AI and a new ‘strike team’ deployed to combat housing crisis
By Nick Newling
The federal government will establish a “strike team” to accelerate the assessment of more than 26,000 homes currently held up for environmental checks, to pause changes to the National Construction Code and to deploy artificial intelligence to speed up assessments, as it scrambles to meet its target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.
The measures will take effect immediately after repeated pleas to strip the red tape around housing approvals and construction at this week’s economic reform roundtable.
Attendees at this week’s economic reform roundtable agreed changes to housing approvals were necessary.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Following the 2022 election, the government announced the National Housing Accord, a plan to build 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade. However, construction and approvals have stumbled towards the target. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council in May said the government would fall 262,000 dwellings short.
To target the shortfall, a four-year pause will be placed on additions to the National Construction Code, a 3000-page rule book that sets regulations on everything from the height of balcony railings to the amount of natural light that a room must have.
Attendees at last week’s roundtable agreed the change was necessary, echoing promises made by Housing Minister Clare O’Neil since her appointment. At this year’s election, former opposition leader Peter Dutton suggested a 10-year freeze to the code, which Labor said would lead to poorer quality homes.
The code has long been derided for its complexity. Some in the construction industry say it has spun out of control, slowing the pipeline of new dwellings. The pause will come into effect following the publication of this year’s edition.
During the pause, the government will explore the use of artificial intelligence to support users’ navigation of the code, and the regularity of updates to the rule book will also be reconsidered.
For housing delayed by environmental approvals, a new strike team will be established within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to fast-track the approval of 26,000 homes currently in the system.
Housing developments will still be required to meet environmental protection regulations, including assessing what impact they will have on protected matters of national environmental significance such as threatened species and listed ecological communities.
New developments with “robust” applications will be prioritised for rapid environmental assessment.
The government will also test whether artificial intelligence can speed up environmental assessments and approvals for residential projects, though there is no detail on how the tools would be applied.
O’Neil said the changes, which were supported by the Property Council of Australia, would accelerate housing approvals “without cutting corners on standards”, reiterating that “it’s too hard to build a home in this country”.
“We want builders on site, not filling in forms to get their approval. In the middle of a housing crisis a generation in the making, we want builders building good quality homes of the future – not figuring out how to incorporate another set of rules,” she said.
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