The strident advocacy by Retirement Living Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon has delivered $15,000 for each retirement living housing unit that the State Governments can achieve.
On Tuesday (26 June) Victoria Anderson, the Treasury’s Deputy Secretary Small Business, Housing and Law Group, wrote to Daniel that the Government and the Department expects independent living units built within retirement communities will be counted towards the National Housing Accord target to build 1.2 million well-located new homes over five years, from 1 July 2024.
This means that the Federal Government will pay State and Territory governments $15,000 for each home that is approved and built above the 1 million new homes target that would normally be built over five years.
Treasury’s determination is expected to fast track approvals of new retirement villages and independent living units at State, Territory and Council level over the next five years as they now count towards the massive $3 billion federal New Homes Bonus that will be shared by State Premiers that hit their housing supply targets.
“If a 119-unit retirement village development was approved over and above the one million homes target, it could mean a financial payment to a jurisdiction of $1.8 million,” says Daniel Gannon.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and made a lot of noise since November last year highlighting the benefits of retirement villages being included in this lofty target.”
“Now that we’ve secured this recognition, our focus shifts to state and territory governments who can receive financial incentives for homes over and above the initial one million target,” Daniel told The Weekly SOURCE.
Daniel said “given 67,000 retirement dwellings are required to maintain existing (retirement) market demand to 2030, these homes could help close the supply gap by 22%.”
The news was announced yesterday as 700 delegates attended the 10th annual National Retirement Living Summit on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
