The Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA WA) has welcomed today’s announcement of a Housing Supply Unit that will be established within the WA Treasury Department as a necessary action to address the state’s critical housing shortage and ensure WA gets its fair share of Federal funding under the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
“WA will have to fight hard to get our piece of the pie when it comes to funding for much needed housing as we compete with other states amid a national housing crisis,” UDIA WA CEO Tanya Steinbeck warned.
“The Housing Supply Unit is a critical aspect of coordinating WA’s housing supply pipeline and ensuring we are ‘HAFF ready’,” Ms Steinbeck said.
The unit was a specific recommendation in UDIA WAs 2023 Policy Priorities published earlier this year and a key ask in ongoing talks with the State Government.
“The unit must bring the right people together to coordinate the housing supply pipeline in WA and ensure the Federal government receives clear proposals for potential housing funding,” Ms Steinbeck said.
“The HAFF housing targets are high and we need to work collaboratively and streamline bureaucracy in order to reach those targets.”
“The unit also needs to look at planning reform and where processes can be streamlined to get new homes to market and get more people into homes they desperately need,” Ms Steinbeck said.
“This critical issue needs leadership and we hope this unit can provide that and better coordinate development outcomes across different government agencies,” Ms Steinbeck said.
“Currently we see too much duplication and competing priorities between different agencies, government departments and levels of government.”
“WA is going to be at least 20,000 homes short over the next 3 years when you look at projected demand against projected supply. Now is the time to pull out all the stops,” Ms Steinbeck said.
“For too long Governments have had their foot on the hose of housing supply and now we find ourselves in a crisis. Industry cannot go this alone, we need policy support,” Ms Steinbeck said.
“We are relieved that we have a Treasurer and a Planning & Housing Minister who are listening to the issues, listening to our recommendations and taking much needed action.”
“We are hopeful that we can turn this crisis around.”
End.
You can read UDIA WA’s Policy Priorities 2023 document here.