Queensland councils push for power to seize unused, abandoned and empty homes

Queensland councils are pushing for the power to seize unused, abandoned and empty homes to unlock the state’s idle housing stock amid the rental crisis. POLL

Thousands of unused, abandoned and empty homes across Queensland could be returned to the market under a proposed scheme that would give councils the power to step in and go as far as seizing the property for sale.

The push to “unlock” idle housing stock in Queensland has gathered momentum amid the state’s worst rental crunch on record, with calls for the state government to look into a solution.

Councils across the state have already backed a push for Queensland to bring in a United Kingdom-style system where a sliding scale of enforcement would be put on owners of vacant properties.

This would start from imposing compulsory purchase orders or a scheme where councils effectively step in as property managers — making a vacant place liveable and putting it on the rental market.

Queensland councils want the power to seize abandoned houses.

Townsville City Councillor Kurt Rehbein said powers to unlock unused housing stock were vital and called for the state government to commit to looking into a solution.

He said powers — council or otherwise — to unlock housing stock was essential

“If local government can’t do it, that’s why we’ve taken it to the state, someone needs to have the power … some sort of capability to ascertain if properties are vacant (and figure out) how do we get people into these homes,” he said.

Cr Rehbein proposed a home wouldn’t be considered vacant if it was a holiday home, if the occupier was overseas working for a few months — such as the case in Townsville where there are many military personnel in the community who are deployed overseas on missions.

He said the state government could also consider putting in place a vacancy tax similar to what is in place in Victoria.

Townsville Councillor Kurt Rehbein.

The Andrews Government, from 2018, imposed a tax equivalent to 1 per cent of the value of property on houses left vacant in a handful of high-density suburbs across Melbourne.

Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Alison Smith said councils were responding to the housing crisis as best they could but the “major statutory, policy and funding levers” were held by the state and federal leaders.

Recent housing data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed 87,000 Queensland residential properties aren’t the main home of their owners were not being rented out, a figure which stretches out to 577,000 nationally.

An ABS spokeswoman noted the data includes properties used for other purposes, such as holiday homes, second residences, dwellings occupied rent-free by family members etc”.

Queensland’s largest water provider Urban Utilities on Saturday revealed 19,500 homes across lower south east Queensland had used barely any water for months — suggesting long term vacancies.