Concept image for a proposal for 2,750-home development at Robina on the Gold Coast which has been granted fast track status by Queensland housing minister Meaghan Scanlon.

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Around 5,000 struggling families could have homes sooner than expected off a bold move to break the housing crisis, slashing approval times to as little as 75 days with limits on build times.

Two projects with 2,795 homes are the first on a fast-track for implementation after being granted special state facilitated development status by Queensland housing minister Meaghan Scanlon – with a further 10 more developments in the pipeline.

“I’m about more housing so my generation can afford to get into the market and that means moving faster,” Ms Scanlon told The Courier-Mail.

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Queensland housing minister Meaghan Scanlon has 10 more projects in the pipeline for fast track consideration. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

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The new approvals pathway allows projects to be approved in as little as 75 days but also puts a two-year time limit for substantial construction to be underway.

“Remove the barriers, speed up approvals and you’ll fuel housing construction – that’s what industry told us, so that’s what we did,” Ms Scanlon said.

“If all (12 are) declared, the pilot projects alone will unlock more than 4,945 homes in places that are well-located to the transport, schools, jobs and services that people need.”

She said “this process isn’t a free pass”.

“Buildings are required to be substantially underway within two years.”

A quarter of the homes within the 12 projects earmarked for SFD were expected to be affordable housing, with the first project being fast-tracked to be the Walker Group’s 2,750-home development in Robina – a build-to-sell proposal on a 5.85ha site at the Gold Coast.

The second is a build-to-rent development in Wakerley for 45 homes at 652 New Cleveland Road on a 17,300sq m site owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Brisbane.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon with L to R, Joe Kelly the Member for Greenslopes and Dr Barbara O’Shea, Labor Candidate for South Brisbane, touring an accommodation facility in Woolloongabba on Saturday September 21. Picture: Steve Pohlner

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Of the 10 projects in the pipeline, the biggest are a 525-home development in Indooroopilly,

435 more at a Woolloongabba site and a 305-unit project at Milton, which would open up studio, one, two and three bedroom units just 2.5km from the Brisbane CBD – over 300 of which would be affordable housing.

Other areas with developments under consideration by the minister were Redland Bay, Forest Lake, Toowoomba, Lutwyche, Pallara, Tewantin, and Noosa Heads.

“While LNP MPs are railing against homes being build in their own backyards, we’re delivering the homes Queensland needs,” Ms Scanlon said.

The move is part of a range of initiatives under the Homes for Queenslanders plans to break the housing crisis.

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