Tropical North Housing Summit 2024

Organised jointly by Regional Development Australia -Tropical North (RDA), FNQ Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC) and the Torres Cape Indigenous Councils Alliance (TCICA).
The summit was held at The Cairns Institute at James Cook University on July 31 with a rich program of over 20 speakers. Approximately 90 participants from the three tiers of government, researchers, economic development bodies, housing industry bodies, planners and social housing providers.

The objectives of the forum were:
1. To raise awareness of the current programs, initiatives, activities and policies being delivered in the TNQ region;
2. To understand the barriers to short, medium and long-term housing solutions;
3. To identify solutions currently being delivered or potential solutions for TNQ;
4. To make recommendations to both State and Federal governments on behalf of the TNQ region.

In opening the Summit, RDA chairperson, Professor Hurriyet Babacan pointed out that housing is a chronic problem where supply of housing has not kept up with the population's demands and needs, and that Australia’s housing supply is very low by international standards. Australia is listed as 22nd out of 33 OECD countries in the provision of housing.

Prof Babacan highlighted the profile of our region including:

• 115,285 households in Far North Queensland (2021). Approximately 50% of housing demand is either single individuals or couples without children.
• About 80% live in separate housing or detached housing.
• 30% own their house, 70% either have mortgage payments or renting. This region has greater number of renters compared to other regions in Queensland.
• Our region has a greater percentage of people on low income and less on higher income compared to other regional areas within Queensland.
• 9.4% are experiencing housing stress (rental and mortgage) which is greater than the national average.
• Challenges of addressing housing supply include structural barriers to finance for housing development, linked with lower loan to valuation ratios, supply chains and cost of construction materials and remoteness, competition for skilled workers in the construction industry, challenges of land availability and land use planning.

Michael Miller, from the Torres and Cape Indigenous Councils Alliance highlighted the challenges of providing social housing to Indigenous communities. He emphasized the need for fit for service housing and high levels of overcrowding. He pointed that funding programs from State and Federal governments did not filter to the ground level and that there was a need for co-designed and more culturally appropriate housing design to correlate to household needs. He highlighted the challenges of the resilience of the homes, including poor repair and maintenance services.

The Summit highlighted the need for coordinated approaches to addressing the housing challenges. A number of recommendations and actions were highlighted that the three agencies will advocate for progressing the outcomes.