Affordable housing Qld: Parties feud over Southport site beside Commonwealth Games athletes village

A war of words has erupted over who is responsible for a major affordable housing project announced for the Gold Coast, with both Labor and the LNP claiming credit.

The Opposition is claiming credit after the Palaszczuk Government unlocked land next to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games athletes village for affordable housing.

Acting Premier Steven Miles and Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon announced on Friday that the “shovel-ready” 1.73ha site at Southport was being sold off to developers for build-to-rent units or student accommodation.

Local LNP MP Sam O’Connor said he has been calling for months for the land and another state-owned site in the Health and Knowledge Precinct neighbouring Gold Coast University Hospital and Griffith University to be released for housing but the government had rejected the idea because it was earmarked for medical projects.

Mr O’Connor said the land – next to the former Games village which is now residential accommodation – had been sitting vacant for six years but the government had dithered.

“Any development will still be a couple of years away so it’s disappointing that precious time has been wasted in the middle of a housing crisis,” he said.

“If the State Government had done the work, Gold Coasters would already be living there.”

Steven Miles with Meaghan Scanlon at the “shovel-ready” 1.73ha site at Southport. Pic Annette Dew

But Ms Scanlon hit back, saying the government had been working on a land audit “well before” Mr O’Connor raised the issue and accused the LNP of blocking social and affordable housing.

She said the Health and Knowledge precinct site, and another state-owned parcel in the Southport CBD, would be developed with hundreds of social and affordable housing units.

“It was the Labor government that built the hospital here that delivered the Health and Knowledge Precinct and now we want to build accommodation for the workers or students in this region,” she said.

Bonney MP Sam O'Connor has been asking the State Government to develop land at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct for more housing.

Ms Scanlon said the planned triple tower Southport CBD project in Scarborough St would include one “supported housing” model for long-term homeless people.

Mr Miles said the land audit which unlocked the Gold Coast sites was a key outcome of last year’s Queensland Housing Summit called in response to the housing crisis.

“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to unlocking more land to increase housing supply because every Queenslander should have a place to call home,” he said.

Originally published as Affordable housing Qld: Parties feud over Southport site beside Commonwealth Games athletes village