The Hon. John Carey MLA
Minister for Planning; Lands; Housing; Homelessness
Dear Mr Carey
The worsening crisis in the home building industry is again on show in the attached report published online today in The West Australian.
It has now become clear that – leaving aside the plight of small to medium-sized builders – the hurt and distress to home buyers who are mainly families many building their first home, has become almost intolerable. It seems that every day there is a report of a builder going bust or a family waiting up to three years for their home to be built. In that time, most are paying rent as well as mortgage payments on the loan to build their home while the delays mean rents go through the roof (if you are lucky enough to find a rental) and homelessness worsens.
Without apportioning blame nor dwelling on problems, it is clear that the building industry has nothing like the capacity required to build the homes demanded of it, to meet targets set by government. And this has resulted from an unfortunate miscalculation when stimulus grants were announced to combat the impact of COVID 19 and other factors including the shift of labour out of the building industry, increasing interest rates and big price rises in materials and trades.
The Home Builders Action Group has consistently proposed solutions it believes are affordable and will be effective and the Executive of HBAG settled on the following positions:
NO COST ASSISTANCE
The amendment of the Home Building Contracts Act (1991). Almost everyone, of the builders who’ve contacted is know that the straitjacket this act put them in is the root cause of many of their problems. Obviously, it can’t be amended overnight but an early statement by the government that it is going to adopt a process that will achieve changes in, say, four months will go a long way in relieving very concerned businesspeople.
LOW-COST ASSISTANCE
A Loans Scheme (similar to that which applied in the COVID-19 period) is the second clear message we are getting from our members. This is not free money and will be designed to support the reputable long-term builders – many of whom have been in the industry for 20+ years.
ASSISTANCE PACKAGE
An Assistance Package HBAG knows this cannot be open ended and needs to be insulated from approaches by other sectors. The clearly proper way to provide support through an Assistance Package is to link it to the present and immediate past contracts which were turned into losing contracts by two things – The Home Building Contracts Act and the Government Stimulus. If these two criteria are used in a properly thought-out assistance package, the assistance will go to where it is needed; will be quantifiable; restricted by qualification and isolated to the home building industry.
In addition to the report, I am also attaching a copy of the full article which was published in abbreviated form in The West Australian. The HBAG is most concerned to ensure decisionmakers understand the full implications of the likely future collapses if nothing is done.
Please log onto the HBAG website at https://hbag.com.au/.
The group represents around a hundred small to medium-sized independent home builders who are committed to finding solutions to the current home-building crisis before it’s too late.
hbag.com.au for the latest detail of actions taken and proposed by the group.
Best Wishes
Yours sincerely
Jason Janssen
0412 373 404
CHAIRMAN
Home Builders Action Group