❓ The Minister for Housing outlines the government's efforts to reduce red tape in housing procurement through an Expression of Interest (EOI) process, leading to cost savings, increased builder participation, and innovative building methods, contributing to affordable housing supply.
AnsweredQoN 956Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGY
956. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for
Housing:
Can the minister tell us what the
government is doing to reduce red tape and, accordingly, increase the supply of
affordable housing?
956. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for
Housing:
Can the minister tell us what the
government is doing to reduce red tape and, accordingly, increase the supply of
affordable housing?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Belmont for a
very good question. She is a strong supporter of our affordable housing strategy
and, indeed, provision of good quality, affordable —
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Armadale, I call you to order for the first time. You
cannot run question time like this.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : As I was saying, the member for Belmont is a strong supporter
of our affordable housing strategy and, indeed, a strong supporter of quality,
affordable housing delivered by way of new housing in her electorate.
Red tape does impact on the cost of
building houses, as anyone who has spoken to the industry would know, and hence
their affordability. My department reviewed its procurement process back in
2011 to see what it could do. The existing process was a request for tender
process. It was very cumbersome and prescriptive and required a lot of work by
the tenderers. The department decided to trial a proposal for an expression of
interest process. This process has delivered some very good results. The old
process tied the builder up by providing materials that were outdated or
inefficient and did not deliver an affordable house. An expression of interest
process is a bit more flexible for the builders. It has allowed builders to
procure goods and services fit for purpose—hence lower costs. It has
significantly reduced the documentation, both to the department in developing
the request for proposal document, and also the amount of work done by the
tenderer, so it has reduced the overhead costs. Online availability of the
documentation has streamlined the process, resulting in time savings and hence on-costs.
The new process has encouraged new
entrants into the market. People who could not spare the time or cost of going
through the request for proposal process have now entered the market—hence
more activity, more proposals and reduced tender prices. Other aspects of the
EOI process have been very useful; for example, we have learnt that we can put
out higher volume contracts. Economies of scale are now being delivered by
putting out contracts not just for one or two houses but maybe four or five or
six or seven units. That has dropped the unit price of a house, hence their
affordability. Another very important outcome of the EOI process is that it has
allowed builders to submit proposals with different building products—hence
prefabrication and modular design—which is an innovation brought about
by the industry. All in all, the EIO process has greatly reduced unnecessary
documentation and red tape and has resulted in more affordable prices for our
houses. One of the programs that the department had—the shared equity
EOI process—has delivered 722 properties. We are trying to achieve 20 000
by 2020, at no cost to the government. Indeed, it won the Premier's
prize for excellence in public sector administration.
I would like to conclude with an
update on the status of the 44 Cottier apartments. Thirty of the 44 apartments
are currently occupied and another 10 are on hold for government offices. In
the space of about three or four months, we have nearly filled the whole 44
apartments.
very good question. She is a strong supporter of our affordable housing strategy
and, indeed, provision of good quality, affordable —
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Armadale, I call you to order for the first time. You
cannot run question time like this.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : As I was saying, the member for Belmont is a strong supporter
of our affordable housing strategy and, indeed, a strong supporter of quality,
affordable housing delivered by way of new housing in her electorate.
Red tape does impact on the cost of
building houses, as anyone who has spoken to the industry would know, and hence
their affordability. My department reviewed its procurement process back in
2011 to see what it could do. The existing process was a request for tender
process. It was very cumbersome and prescriptive and required a lot of work by
the tenderers. The department decided to trial a proposal for an expression of
interest process. This process has delivered some very good results. The old
process tied the builder up by providing materials that were outdated or
inefficient and did not deliver an affordable house. An expression of interest
process is a bit more flexible for the builders. It has allowed builders to
procure goods and services fit for purpose—hence lower costs. It has
significantly reduced the documentation, both to the department in developing
the request for proposal document, and also the amount of work done by the
tenderer, so it has reduced the overhead costs. Online availability of the
documentation has streamlined the process, resulting in time savings and hence on-costs.
The new process has encouraged new
entrants into the market. People who could not spare the time or cost of going
through the request for proposal process have now entered the market—hence
more activity, more proposals and reduced tender prices. Other aspects of the
EOI process have been very useful; for example, we have learnt that we can put
out higher volume contracts. Economies of scale are now being delivered by
putting out contracts not just for one or two houses but maybe four or five or
six or seven units. That has dropped the unit price of a house, hence their
affordability. Another very important outcome of the EOI process is that it has
allowed builders to submit proposals with different building products—hence
prefabrication and modular design—which is an innovation brought about
by the industry. All in all, the EIO process has greatly reduced unnecessary
documentation and red tape and has resulted in more affordable prices for our
houses. One of the programs that the department had—the shared equity
EOI process—has delivered 722 properties. We are trying to achieve 20 000
by 2020, at no cost to the government. Indeed, it won the Premier's
prize for excellence in public sector administration.
I would like to conclude with an
update on the status of the 44 Cottier apartments. Thirty of the 44 apartments
are currently occupied and another 10 are on hold for government offices. In
the space of about three or four months, we have nearly filled the whole 44
apartments.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.