Housing affordability is a reflection and a consequence of the level of housing supply at a point in time.

While many other factors influence affordability, achieving an improvement in home ownership begins with taking actions that can deliver a responsive supply chain for new land and housing, in all forms, in all locations, year on year.

Australia’s planning system underpins our ability to achieve a stable supply of new housing each year. The planning system has been overloaded by an expectation that it can be all things to all people – it cannot, and it should not, be used in this way. The planning system must deliver land owners a level of certainty that supports building the homes we need, in a timely way. The planning system must add value, not create costs, add taxes and become the reason housing affordability declines.

Governments must focus on supporting actions that reduce the complexity of the planning system, create certainty for all stakeholders and wind back the undue expectations on new home buyers to pay now for the needs of future Australians.

GOALS

Promote a culture of trust, collaboration and support by:

• Gaining recognition of the importance of residential development to economic growth (national, state and local)
• Promoting a planning and building framework that values collaboration and increased efficiency in housing delivery

Reduce impediments to a stable housing supply by:

• Promoting housing supply as a fundamental principle of maintaining housing affordability
• Gaining support for ‘one house, one approval’ arrangements in all state and territory planning and building regimes
• Gaining recognition of ‘housing supply’ and ‘housing affordability’ in state and territory planning legislation
• Gaining recognition of ‘truth in zoning’ as a foundation of state and territory planning regimes

Recognise land supply underpins housing supply and affordability by:

• Establishing a national framework for the public reporting of land supply based on consistent metrics and milestones in the land supply pipeline
• Ensuring metropolitan strategies recognise the need for greenfield housing supply
• Identifying and promoting reforms that support rezoning and subdivision of land in a timely and affordable way
• Identifying ways to resolve planning constraints that limit medium density housing supply in residential areas
• Reducing or removing upfront infrastructure charges on new land and housing by creating a fair and equitable funding base for long lived, community infrastructure

Build a planning system that meets the housing needs of all Australians by

• Gaining recognition of housing as critical infrastructure that supports strong communities
• Reducing planning approval timeframes by providing a pathway for planning certification for low impact residential developments that require planning approval
• Reducing timeframes for subdivision works approvals by providing a certification pathway
• Ensuring e-planning reforms deliver a real reduction in time and cost to the home owner and streamline the business processes for builders
• Ensuring internal renovations to residential buildings are recognised as exempt or complying development under planning regimes
• Gaining recognition of the value of consistency in planning, engineering and building regimes for residential development across local government borders