Biance Hall, Rachel Eddie
Developers have been put on notice Victoria intends to push most new residential construction to the inner and middle suburbs, to stop urban sprawl and relieve the housing affordability crisis, as the government prepares to unveil its new housing package.
Believing a dramatic increase in supply will be key to getting housing costs under control, Premier Daniel Andrews also refused yesterday to rule out a rent freeze, saying: ‘‘Nothing’s off the table.’’
However, he rejected suggestions the Greens had pushed Labor to consider rent freezes or caps, lashing the minor party for its ‘‘piety’’.
As pressure grows on his government to release details of its housing package, expected in coming months, Andrews vowed a ‘‘substantial rewrite of our planning laws’’ to increase housing supply. Key to this would be consolidating most new development in established suburbs – a policy goal stretching back more than 20 years.
‘‘We can keep on adding suburb after suburb after suburb, and having to build hospitals and schools and roads and kinders, and everything else you need,’’ Andrews said.
‘‘Or we can consolidate more and more housing, with very high design standards, so that people can live closer to public transport... too often our developer friends build estates, they don’t build communities. And we’re going to have a bit of say about that, too.’’
Andrews also lashed the Greens for blocking housing developments at a local level, after the party’s renters’ rights spokeswoman Gabrielle de Vietri claimed his government was considering capping or freezing rents only because of the Greens’ pressure.
‘‘I’m not here to take lectures from the Greens political party, who build nothing,’’ Andrews said.
‘‘They’re all about commentary, and they can’t live in their piety. They can’t live in their purity ... Their words don’t put roofs over anyone’s heads. Their politics is all about themselves.’’
De Vietri said the Labor government was doing ‘‘absolutely nothing’’ to resolve the rental crisis.
‘‘I hear from people every day who are just one rent rise away from homelessness or housing stress. The longer we leave this, the worse it’s going to get,’’ she said.
The Greens urgently want a twoyear freeze on rents, followed by a permanent cap to limit rental increases, plus restrictions on Airbnb and an increase in public housing supply.
Jess Wilson, the Coalition’s spokesperson for housing affordability, said the Andrews government’s housing package needed to be announced now.
‘‘It’s cold comfort to those lining up on the weekend, trying to find a place to call home, saying, in a few months’ time we’re going to bring a package that might deal with these issues,’’ Wilson said.
The government should fasttrack planning approvals and work with councils to deliver new housing targets. But she also argued that as established suburbs attracted more density, the character of each suburb should be maintained as far as possible.
Andrews vowed his government would unveil ‘‘a really big shake-up of the way residential supply works’’ when it releases the comprehensive housing package.
The most important aspect of it would be increasing supply, he said. ‘‘More supply is absolutely top of that list. That’s what puts downward pressure on prices.’’
Cath Evans, the Victorian executive director of the Property Council, said the government needed to be ambitious and cut red tape to allow developers to build 70 per cent of new homes in established suburbs. ‘‘We completely agree with the premier that the housing affordability crisis impacting many Victorians is fundamentally driven by a lack of housing supply. Providing more quality housing, in places where people want to live, is the only way we’re going to address the current situation,’’ she said yesterday.
In Melbourne, average rents for houses and apartments climbed from $461 a week in June 2021 to $582 in July, according to SQM Research.