This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE latest report of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on the build-to-rent legislation inquiry has disappointed industry bodies, who believe it is a risk up to 105,000 new homes over the next decade.
The Property Council of Australia, National Shelter and the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) had made a joint submission to the Committee inquiry on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Build to Rent) Bill 2024.
“There was an opportunity in this report to make recommendations that would enable a steady pipeline of genuinely affordable rental housing for nurses, disability care workers and staff working in the retail industry, all at very little extra cost to government,” said Wendy Hayhurst, CEO at CHIA.
“With the National Rental Affordability Scheme fast coming to an end, our joint proposal would immediately inject a much-needed shot of 1200 affordable rental homes to help people facing a big rent hike. It is not too late for good faith negotiations that could let this happen.”
The submission advocated for amendments to the legislation including altered tax settings to encourage the BTR sector and target requirements for 10% affordable housing within existing and new BTR projects.
The resulting report, released earlier in the week, found the Committee split along party lines.
“It is disappointing the Committee couldn’t find common ground in the middle of a national housing supply crisis. For sheer new housing supply, the compromise proposal beats the welcome 40,000 homes from Housing Australia Future Fund hands down,” said Mike Zorbas, CEO at the Property Council of Australia.
“There is no cheaper, better way available to the parliament to add 105,000 new homes to our national supply over the next decade.”
“Providing more housing choice, especially rental choice, is critical to solving the housing crisis. Now is the time for good faith good policy negotiations to replace entrenched political positions.”
The amendments were supported by key independents in both houses, including Senator Pocock who was the clearest in his support in the report.
This after the Greens and the Coalition voted to split tax changes out of Labor’s bill, which would lower the managed investment trust (MIT) withholding tax for build-to-rent assets to the same level as other asset classes.
“There was a real opportunity through this inquiry to consider amendments to the legislation to make renting in Australia a much better experience for tenants by considering amendments to provide greater security of tenure with longer leases and the use of ‘no cause’ evictions and better targeting of affordable rental homes through build-to-rent,” said Emma Greenhalgh, CEO at National Shelter.
“We do not have the luxury in a national housing crisis to continue to waste opportunities to work together to deliver a range of housing solutions for our communities.”
