Community Housing

This bill enables the Homes for Homes charitable donation model in Queensland, allowing property owners to voluntarily pledge a small donation from the sale of their property to fund social and affordable housing. It also reforms financial reporting in retirement villages to give residents clearer, more consistent information about how their village funds are managed.

This bill significantly expands the role of Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) to tackle Queensland's housing shortage. It makes delivering social and affordable housing a core part of EDQ's mandate, gives EDQ new powers to acquire land and direct infrastructure delivery, and restructures EDQ as a more independent body with its own board, CEO, and employing office.

This bill gives the Commonwealth Parliament the power it needs to establish the Help to Buy shared equity scheme in Queensland. The scheme will help up to 10,000 low to middle income Australians per year buy a home with as little as a 2 per cent deposit, with the Commonwealth contributing up to 40 per cent of the purchase price for new homes and 30 per cent for existing homes.

This bill reforms Queensland's rental laws to give tenants stronger protections and ensure all rental homes meet minimum standards. It abolishes 'without grounds' evictions, introduces a framework for renting with pets, strengthens domestic and family violence protections, and prescribes minimum housing standards for safety, security, and functionality. It also exempts resident-operated freehold retirement villages from mandatory unit buyback requirements.

This bill implements several 2023-24 State Budget revenue measures and makes technical amendments to Queensland tax legislation. It creates tax concessions to encourage build-to-rent housing developments with affordable housing, simplifies the land tax home exemption, extends payroll tax relief for regional employers and apprentice wages, and closes off common law tax refund claims.