National cabinet is meeting on Wednesday to discuss the housing crisis. Here’s some suggestions of what it should consider.
Australia is in the grip of major housing affordability challenges that are placing large numbers of people into housing stress, insecurity and homelessness. This has sparked debate over housing and planning policy that now dominates the National cabinet agenda.
In a new report published today (Tuesday), the Planning Institute of Australia presents 10 ways that planning systems can support affordable and diverse housing – especially in existing urban areas where higher density needs to be more inclusive.
The role of planning in housing
Tackling housing affordability means addressing the spectrum of housing needs, from overcoming hurdles to home ownership to improving access to social and affordable rental housing for an increasing proportion of the population.
Planning has a key role in enabling more homes to meet Australia’s diverse housing needs, and planning reforms can make a difference to improving certainty for investment decisions.
Planning does not control speed of development
However, while planning regulates the location and type of new housing, it does not control the speed with which housing is developed – nor affect powerful drivers for investment in housing.
In short, planning can enable the right housing in the right place – but planning alone cannot deliver more houses. The decision to act on planning approvals largely rests with property owners, who make decisions based on a range of market factors including the availability and cost of materials, labour and finance, taxation settings, sales rates, profitability and other market factors.
As a result, political pressure on planning systems to deliver more housing often misinterprets the complex demand drivers of housing unaffordability and fails to appreciate the role of planning to put the right types of housing in the right places – including well-designed homes, townhouses and apartments that are integrated with planned infrastructure and services to create complete communities.
Good planning works
Good planning results in reduced living costs for communities with better access to work and services and in buildings that are designed for resilience in a changing climate.
The role of planning to build capacity for growth is fundamentally spatial: to coordinate a pipeline of housing supply aligned with infrastructure capacity, population growth and housing preferences – to put the right housing in the right place along with other land uses. Long-term housing affordability is essential for inclusive communities – but it does not need to be at the expense of good places.
Planning also creates market certainty, reduces risks and facilitates orderly investment decisions which are essential for the cost-effective delivery of housing and infrastructure to support long-term growth.
Focus on housing in existing urban areas
The Planning Institute wants a refocus on the delivery of diverse, affordable and well-located homes with access to jobs and community infrastructure – the right housing in the right place – not just a narrow focus on housing numbers. Planning is vital to achieving this over the long-term. Doing density well can help us move from NIMBY(not in my back yard) to YIMBY (yes in my back yard).
Many of the easiest sites for housing development are already spent.
Redevelopment of areas where there are existing residents requires sophisticated master planning. Ad-hoc approaches can overwhelm infrastructure and cause a chain reaction of poor outcomes and community opposition to development.
It is reasonable for density to deliver better and fairer results for future residents. There is an opportunity for government and industry partners to commit to a new deal for more inclusive renewal. Australian cities cannot afford to marginalise low-moderate income earners from the most job rich and accessible areas.
Ways planning systems can support housing
The planning profession offers ways that planning systems can support affordable and diverse housing, grouped into three policy themes – elaborated in the PIA report:
Enabling housing for those in need
- Facilitate social and community housing and short-term emergency housing – by reforms to assessment processes and costs
- Use inclusionary zoning and value sharing – targets and contributions for a component of affordable housing and related infrastructure alongside private development
- New models for “inclusive renewal” – place-based governance, partnerships and commitment to deliver better outcomes with densification
Encouraging housing diversity and good design
- Facilitate housing diversity in high amenity locations near jobs, transport and infrastructure – via targets and assessment regimes in strategic plans
- Fast-track housing diversity and reduce unnecessary costs for medium and higher density housing – via codes and assessment pathways and up-front resolution of barriers to rapid assessment (for example, resolving cumulative impacts on parking and heritage)
- Foster good design and sustainability – updating codes, lot sizes and layouts and guidelines to reflect increased climate risks and facilitate the full range of housing models (such as build to rent (BTR), seniors, medium density types)
Improving decision-making systems and strategies
- Transform community engagement – with an expectation that future communities are genuine partners in setting outcomes and accountabilities for how precincts will measurably change for the better
- Invest in long term strategic planning and implementation – plans to integrate infrastructure planning, funding and delivery top enable pipelines for housing delivery and reduce risks for more diverse housing
- Depoliticise planning decisions – to ensure consistency with strategic plannings and where appropriate expanding delegations and the use of independent panels
- Improve data quality and availability – via open access platforms that help navigate complexity and enable informed planning and investment decisions
Even as planning systems contribute to a pipeline for more diverse housing growth – there are many non-planning factors that impact the supply and availability of housing, including:
- Labour and construction material shortages
- Borrowing capacity of households and the cost of capital expressed through interest rates
- Tax settings which superheat demand and encourage housing as a speculative investment rather than as shelter
- Long term under investment by Government in the provision of social and community housing
- Finance limitations which can affect housing product types and market innovation
- Reduced Government involvement in housing markets – to bring more challenging opportunities earlier to market
Planning systems should continue to respond so that planning is an enabler of the types of housing growth that build communities with better living conditions.
