The changes needed to ‘turbocharge’ answers to Australia’s housing crisis

The Business Council of Australia has come out swinging on the problems it says are driving up the cost of new homes across the country.

The country’s powerful business peak body has called for a nationwide overhaul of housing approvals processes, highlighting that NSW is the worst performing state on the mainland with just five homes approved per 1000 residents over the last year.

The Business Council of Australia will this month release the “It’s time to say yes to housing” report, which it will use to push major changes it says will ramp up housing supply across the country before the federal election.

Among the council’s recommendations are that barriers for state government to get involved in major housing projects be lowered.

The council says that thresholds for deeming a proposal a state significant project varies widely across the country – with a Greater Sydney project having to exceed $75 million in value to be elevated from council decision-makers to the streamlined NSW Government pipeline – compared to $20m for metropolitan proposals in Western Australia.

Their report will also call for an overhaul of community consultation – saying minor concerns voiced by NIMBYs are responsible for the repeated torpedoing of new housing developments.

New homes in Gregory Hills built in 2019. Photo: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

The council referred back to a NSW Productivity Commission report released earlier this year, which found that current consultation models do not represent the broader community view.

Business Council chief executive Bran Black said tough decisions had to be made to “turbocharge” assessments and approvals, amid the federal government’s Housing Accord target of having 1.2 million new homes built in Australia by 2029.

“This (housing) supply crisis, driven by a shortfall, means demand for limited houses further pushes up prices and rents, driving higher inflation which hurts all Australians,” he said.

“Plain and simple, we need more supply, and we want to work with local and state governments to speed up their housing decisions, so builders can get on with the job of delivering places for people to live.”

Mr Black also recommended that other states follow the lead of NSW, which earlier this year released a new ‘league table’ highlighting how quickly individual councils assess development applications.

Despite this, analysis by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) shows NSW was the worst performing state on the Australian mainland for housing approvals in the year to July, with just five dwellings approved per 1000 residents – compared to the best, Victoria, with 7.5 dwellings per 1000.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully, who has implemented policies in a bid to address Sydney’s housing crisis. Picture: Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The BCA’s research shows that to hit the Housing Accord goals, 240,000 new homes need to be built each year across the country – with Australia falling short of that by 64,000 dwellings last financial year.

Their report says state governments should have increased power to remove planning authority from councils – an action flagged by NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully earlier this year – while NSW has also put forward a $200m infrastructure reward scheme for councils approving their share of homes.

A new mechanism should be created which would enable developers to trigger a ‘yes or no’ on a proposal if it exceeds a statutory time frame, while processes should be put in place to cut down on double-handling of planning applications by multiple government agencies.