Key Points
Labor’s plan to make housing more affordable will help renters, aspiring first homeowners and people in need of social housing.
Labor will:
- Build 1,000 dedicated rental properties
- Support more Tasmanians to buy their first home
- Urgently repair 215 uninhabitable social housing properties
- Remove red tape that’s holding back new housing
Why we need it
Tasmania used to have the most affordable housing in the country. Now it is one of the most expensive places to live, making the cost of living crisis even worse.
Home ownership was once a key part of the Tasmanian way of life. Now young people fear they’ll never be able to own a home of their own.
Renting used to be easy and affordable — as it should be. Now Tasmanian renters constantly worry about how they'll afford to keep a roof over their head, and where they’ll go if they have to move out.
And after 10 years of the Liberals, homelessness is no longer something we see when we visit the mainland. There are tents in our parks and people sleeping rough in our cities. The housing waiting list has doubled and the average wait time has quadrupled to nearly two years.
“Fixing this isn’t going to be easy, but we need to make a start”
We need to build more houses for renters, give young people a leg up to buy their first home, and provide enough social housing for those who need it.
The details
Labor’s plan to make housing more affordable has four parts.
1. Build 1,000 dedicated rental homes
Other states are building large numbers of dedicated rental properties through build-to-rent programs.
These programs incentivise housing developments to be made available as longterm rentals, increasing supply in the rental market and putting downward pressure on rental prices.
Labor will reduce state taxes on build-to-rent developments by 50%, and open investment up to superannuation funds. Independent estimates show this will result in an extra 1,000 dedicated rental properties being built over the next five years.
We’ll also provide extra incentives for developments that offer rentals at below-market rates.
2. Urgently repair 200 uninhabitable social housing properties
With so many people in our community in desperate need of housing, it’s unbelievable that right now there are more than 200 public housing properties sitting empty because the necessary maintenance work hasn’t been done.
Labor will make these repairs an urgent priority, to get 200 families off the streets and into homes.
3. Remove the red tape that’s holding back new housing
If we’re going to start making housing more affordable, we need to build more homes.
But after 10 years of the Liberals, there’s too much red tape holding back housing developments, and building approvals are in decline. Labor will:
- Finalise the statewide planning scheme
- End the “first mover disadvantage” that is holding up new subdivisions
4. Stop homes being lost to short-stay accommodation
Too many local homes are being lost to short-stay accommodation operators like AirBnB.
And with the current shortage of homes in Tasmania, we need to look after locals first.
A Rebecca White Labor Government will immediately pause the issuing of all new permits to convert entire homes into short-stay accommodation.
Labor will work with local councils to ensure that short-term accommodation can operate sensibly and sustainably, but not in a way that takes housing away from local Tasmanians.