Queensland councils want a national summit to address serious housing issues. 

Councils voted in support of a raft of motions aimed at addressing significant housing availability and affordability issues across the state at the recent Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Annual Conference in Mackay.

Delegates also called for the Commonwealth to host a National Housing Summit to address what they describe as a crisis.

LGAQ President and Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Mark Jamieson said the issue is not isolated to any one part of Queensland.

“Councils and their communities across the state are being impacted by housing affordability and diversity challenges,” Cr Jamieson said.

“There are communities facing shortages, rapid price rises and big dips in rental vacancy rates.

“We are uniting on their behalf with a strong message that this is an issue that cannot be resolved by councils alone,” he said.

Flinders Shire Council Mayor Jane McNamara says Queensland’s rural housing crisis is threatening to derail the initiatives rural and remote councils are putting in place to diversify their economies and industries and to reverse population decline.

“The market has failed,” she said.

“Now we need to look to innovative solutions to counteract the impact of the crisis on our economies and communities.”

Councils specifically called for the State to work with them on modifying the first homeowners grant to allow it to be available for renovation of existing housing stock.

This would allow residents to purchase and live in affordable accommodation in rural and remote communities.

Cr McNamara said councils had done the research and the leg work.

“We now need the State and Federal governments to work with us on addressing supply issues in our regions – to ensure all Queenslanders have access to safe and affordable housing,” she said.

Additional housing related motions passed by councils included a call to the Federal Government to increase support for housing supply in remote and discrete First Nations communities to address levels of overcrowding in these communities.