Shannon Deery: Victoria’s housing policy — the last major policy from Dan Andrews – is unworkable for Jacinta Allan

Victoria’s landmark Housing Statement — released by Dan Andrews a week before he abruptly exited politics — is an unworkable mess that may force a fresh Jacinta Allan pivot.

The state government’s landmark Housing Statement was supposed to be the solution to Victoria’s housing crisis.

When it was launched by Daniel Andrews a week before his abrupt exit from politics in September last year it was applauded by industry groups as a much needed plan to address both demand and affordability.

But a year on and it’s become apparent to those same industry groups that the plan won’t work.

Without urgent revision, they say building the promised 800,000 new homes over the next decade simply can’t happen.

The Housing Statement explicitly committed to building 80,000 new homes a year.

In the 12 months to July just 52,419 home approvals were made.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Jacinta Allan inherited a Housing Statement that won’t work from Dan Andrews. Picture: David Geraghty

Government sources say there was a sense of urgency to get the Housing Statement out the door this time last year.

That urgency didn’t make sense at the time, but became obvious after Andrews quit politics a week later, making the ambitious Housing Statement his last big announcement.

But because of the rushed development of the policy, industry insiders say consultation didn’t go nearly as far as it should have.

Of course there were lots of meetings, many pieces of correspondence exchanged, and policy submissions that clogged up government inboxes.

But after all that time and work, outcomes were few and far between.

“My assessment is that the government has been completely captured by the public service,” one industry insider said.

“They have zero capacity to be adaptive or flexible in their policy decisions.”

“Even when it’s blatantly obvious to everyone, decisions take in excess of 12 months to be made.”

The government has pledged to build 800,000 houses over a decade. Picture: Supplied

If the government wants to get its Housing Statement back on track, industry groups say there are some levers that must be instantly pulled.

They include a re-prioritisation of government initiatives to enable the delivery of targeted tax relief and concessions and a “strategic slowdown” of the Suburban Rail Loop to free up finances.

Other measures floated include immediately expanding stamp duty exemptions for new and unsold apartments, a short-term increase to the first homebuyers grant and a review of the Windfall Gains Tax to assess its impact on regional development, urban renewal areas and Metropolitan Activity Centres

Then there are calls for broader off the plan concessions and a ten-year plan for priority infrastructure delivery to unlock housing.

Pollsters warn lack of action to address the housing crisis could parlay into a potentially election losing backlash for the Allan government.

Among its traditional voter base there is much dissatisfaction with how Labor is handling the problem.

That alone might be enough to get the government’s attention.

Jacinta Allan has shown she’s more than flexible when it comes to changing stance on policy positions, particularly those inherited from her predecessor.

She’s pivoted on duck hunting and a second injecting room, wound back youth justice reforms and watered down the state’s war on gas.

It may be that there’s now the chance to revise the housing statement, too.