The Property Council of Australia Tasmanian Division encouraged TasNetworks, TasWater and the Tasmanian Government on Thursday to address the main issues that continue to restrain Tasmania’s housing supply.
In a recent report entitled Removing the regulatory handbrake: Seven steps to fix Tasmania’s housing supply, the Property Council offered seven strategies to increase housing supply. These included speeding up the approval process, clearing the TasNetworks bottleneck, simplifying TasWater’s processes, finalising the Tasmanian Planning Scheme, encouraging inner city housing development, developing the Glenorchy to Hobart transit corridor, and taking advantage of the Hobart City Deal.
Brian Wightman, Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia Tasmanian Division, emphasised the urgency of having the Tasmanian Government legislate for approval timeframes across all regulatory bodies involved in the planning and building process.
“Navigating through the approval process is an unnecessarily difficult task for developers and without timeframes for the assessment of aspects such as detailed engineering designs, the process can become a long and drawn-out affair,” he noted.
“Aside from holding back delivery of housing to the market, costs associated with delays are incurred by developers and ultimately drive up end prices and lower investment appeal.”
The council acknowledged that while the suggestions requires a lot of time to implement, they are vital in generating suitable and affordable housing for Tasmanians moving forward.
“A short-term fix for housing is much needed, however it is imperative key decision makers begin planning for longer term outcomes immediately,” Wightman added.
In the end, the Property Council pointed out that the factors that cause Tasmania’s housing shortage are “multi-layered and require coordinated, insightful planning to properly address.”
