Mayor Jon Raven has recommended a time limit on approved development applications in order to boost construction rates in Logan.
It was one of many topics raised at a Property Council of Australia panel the mayor appeared on last week.
He was joined by Moreton Bay mayor Peter Flannery and Ipswich mayor Teresa Harding to discuss how councils are responding to the housing crisis.
“We are the three fastest growing cities in the state and our communities are doing the hard work,” Cr Raven said.
“While we all accept that growth is necessary and we are all willing to be active participants, the community suffers from rapid growth.”
Cr Raven said there were around 60,000 approved developments in south-east Queensland waiting to be built.
“If all of those were being developed right now, we wouldn’t have a housing crisis,” he said.
“A lot of those approvals are out of date and not fit for market anymore, but councils have no ability to extinguish or threaten to extinguish those approvals.
“If we could turn around and say, ‘you have had an approval for six years but haven’t acted on it, so you’ve got six months to start or we’re extinguishing your approval’, I think you would see a lot less land banking.”
He said Logan City was exceeding its detached dwelling targets.
“If you look at Logan’s detached dwelling numbers, we are hitting the target for the entire region on our own,” he said.
“Which is why our community is experiencing packed roads and lagging infrastructure.”
Cr Raven said once developers had procured land and received official approvals, there wasn’t enough incentive for them to build, particular with rising construction costs.
“They’re actually incentivised not to develop,” he said.
“With the current market, they’re better off waiting a couple of years.
“Council can’t afford to provide them the incentive.”
Infrastructure charges, greenfield development, public transport and tax revenue inequality were also discussed on the panel.
“Out of every $100 of tax taxpayers pay, council only gets $3… but a lot of expectations are shifted to council to fix problems,” Cr Raven said.
“We need more money, more infrastructure and we need it now.”
