We welcome the focus on housing in today’s ACT Budget, however there is still more to do to address Canberra’s housing challenges.
The Government has committed to internally allocating resources within the new City and Environment Directorate to progress further planning reforms during 2025-26. To deliver more homes where people want to live, the Government must deliver the full potential of the Missing Middle reforms and make rapid progress on further planning reforms over the next year to enable transport-oriented development and more housing around local centres.
More funding for construction skills training will help address our workforce shortage in the long term. We are also excited to see funding to implement National Competition Policy measures and the Construction Productivity Agenda, which will unlock further housing delivery capacity.
The commitments to build more public, social and affordable housing and sustain the capacity of homelessness services are welcome, however we need to be more ambitious to hit our public housing targets. 85 new public housing dwellings simply aren’t enough to make a serious impact. Developing a plan for 1,000 more public housing dwellings is good, but is not a firm commitment until backed up by implementation funding over several more budget cycles.
The Government has also missed the opportunity to review the operation of the Lease Variation Charge in this Budget. While we support the principle of taxing windfall gains when changes in lease conditions enable more valuable use of land, the current design of LVC is flawed and poses a roadblock to delivering infill housing. The Government must ensure that the LVC’s technical details are based on tax design best practice, rather than unintentionally constraining housing supply.
As Canberra implements the Missing Middle reforms and greenfield suburban expansion slows, the LVC will become increasingly important to Canberra’s housing supply, making it imperative we get these settings right. The Government should prioritise addressing this as the Missing Middle reforms are finalised.
The above statement is attributable to Howard Maclean, Convenor, Greater Canberra.
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About Greater Canberra
Greater Canberra is a community advocacy group committed to affordable and high-quality housing in Canberra. We believe in a future where housing is abundant, and where everyone can enjoy a more sustainable and liveable city. For more information, see https://greatercanberra.org.