Tax on empty houses among options to be discussed at Hobart summit

A TAX on empty houses, higher density living and the better use of vacant crown land are all up for consideration at today’s housing summit in Hobart.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman will host a housing crisis summit today.

A TAX on empty houses, higher density living and the better use of vacant crown land are all up for consideration at today’s housing summit in Hobart.

Premier Will Hodgman will chair the event, which has been sparked by soaring home prices and record low rental vacancy rates leading to an increasing number of people being unable to find affordable accommodation.

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Mr Hodgman will use the three-hour summit to reveal the results of an audit which has identified enough land to build another 2000 homes.

“Importantly, much of the land identified is already close to existing infrastructure like schools, roads and health services,’’ he said.

“There is no doubt that many of the housing issues that we are facing are a result of a strong, growing economy.

“Not only will opening up more land tackle the immediate housing issues, it will also provide a massive stimulus to the economy and create more jobs.”

About 35 industry and stakeholder organisations have been invited to the three-hour meeting, which is not open to the public or the media.

Tenants Union of Tasmania spokesman Ben Bartl said his organisation would be calling for more public housing, greater regulation of short-term accommodation providers such as Airbnb, a review of the Residential Tenancy Act and a tax on empty homes.

“We’ve calculated that there’s at least 2000 properties in Hobart that are empty, so we say that the tax collected on those empty homes could be put into affordable housing initiatives,” he said.

TasCoss chief executive Kym Goodes.

Tenants Union of Tasmania spokesman Ben Bartl.

Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Kym Goodes said her organisation was keen to avoid rushed solutions.

“We want to ensure there’s a high level of specialised knowledge to inform what happens next — to ensure that any short-term solutions have good evidence around them,’’ Ms Goodes said.

“We have to better define the problem before we know what the solution is.

“There’s a social housing problem and a waiting list that has persisted for many years.

“We already had 3500 people waiting for social housing, we already had a supply problem.”

She said that in addition to a long-running problem with homelessness in Hobart, growth in tourism, employment and student accommodation demand had added to that problem.

Tasmanian executive director of the Property Council of Australia Brian Wightman said there was urgency in helping people in the short term, but a strategy was needed beyond that.

“The immediate issue is people living in tents — that is unacceptable and we need to find a solution,” Mr Wightman said.

He said there was a need for an audit of Housing Tasmania properties to make sure they were well maintained, appropriately used and not left vacant, as well as a need to streamline the process for new developments.

“Our view is there should be a one-stop shop which triggers all of these approvals and requirements which would allow you to get to market quicker,” he said.