Unlocking church and charity-owned land for community housing

The Queensland Government has amended the state’s planning framework to unlock church and charity-owned land for community housing, with changes taking effect from 20 December 2024.

The changes are aligned to the government’s commitment to scale up the supply of housing stock across the state, meeting the demands of Queensland’s growing population.

To open up the land, the Planning Regulation 2017 was amended under the Planning Amendment Regulation (No.2) 2024 (Amendment Regulation) to allow community housing roviders access to build affordable housing on church and charity-owned land.

As part of the amendments made to the planning framework, a streamlined Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID) pathway for social and/or affordable housing has also been introduced with supporting materials.

Summary of amendments to Planning Regulation 2017

The Amendment Regulation includes amendments to:

• amend schedule 5, item 16, to make it clear that non-for-profit and charitable organisations registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission may access the MID process. This will allow registered churches and charities to seek approval from the state for the development of social and affordable housing on their land.
• amend schedule 2 to change the State-wide Community facilities zone purpose statement, to include 100 per cent affordable housing on church and charity-owned land as acceptable in the zone.
• amend schedule 6 to introduce new provisions to allow existing church and charity dwellings such as caretaker residences and presbyteries to be repurposed as housing without the need for a development application.

Further information

A copy of the Amendment Regulation, as well as its accompanying explanatory notes, is now available.