Housing—Affordability
559. Mrs Lisa Munday to the Minister for Housing and Works:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment that every Western Australian has a home.
Can the minister please advise the house how the government is working to deliver social and affordable housing for our most vulnerable?
Mr John Carey replied:
I thank the member for her question. As we know, every state in the country is facing the same challenges in housing pressures and the rental market. That is why the state government is resolutely focused on supply. It is all about supply, supply and supply. There is not one silver bullet. It is about approaching this issue from all different avenues, and understanding that it is the culmination of policy measures that help to bolster housing supply. I note, as the Premier just cited, that housing completions are up 25%—the strongest growth in the nation. Our efforts are also recognised. For example, recent commentary in the Mortgage Professional Australia magazine noted:
State and local government policies, particularly around land release, are cited as key factors limiting growth in home building. Population movements reflect these dynamics, with people relocating to areas offering better employment and home ownership prospects. Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have led recent growth, benefiting from strong population gains and lower costs of bringing new homes to market. This trend is expected to continue, as these states remain more responsive to demand.
It goes on to compare the situation faced in Sydney and Melbourne. There is recognition of our state's preparedness to bolster supply, like the announcement today, when I joined the Deputy Premier to announce an expression of interest to enable an advanced manufacturing facility that ultimately is about creating and building our modular industry but in medium and high density, because we know that there is market failure there. In our state-level social housing program, around 45% is now delivered through alternative construction methods—modular, timber and prefab—but we have market failure in the private sector in relation to medium and high density. The announcement today is about growing that industry to enable not only social and affordable housing, but also medium and high-density projects in the private sector. This adds to the significant investment we are making to deliver social and affordable medium-density projects through round 1 of the Housing Australia Future Fund, when we announced $433 million to deliver more than a thousand social homes in medium and high-density projects. It is very clear that our measures are working, as acknowledged by stakeholders across Western Australia. Again, it is in stark contrast to the other side, which has no policies at all.
