More homes can be delivered sooner as the Schrinner Council adopts amendments to the City Plan in record time.
At the Council meeting today, the Inner-City Affordability Initiative was adopted just nine months after the initial announcement.
The Inner-City Affordability Initiative aims to improve housing affordability and supply in fast-growing areas by reducing costly car parking requirements in inner-city apartment buildings.
Mandatory minimum car parking requirements were originally in place in Brisbane’s CBD and the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct and were proposed to be expanded to parts of Fortitude Valley, Kangaroo Point, Milton, and Newstead in June 2024.
The initiative went to public consultation in October 2024 and community feedback inspired an expansion of the proposed plan to include more well-connected suburbs in the City Core and City Frame parking areas.
Under the changes, the City Core would extend to parts of East Brisbane, Kangaroo Point and Woolloongabba and the City Frame would extend to parts of East Brisbane, Herston, Highgate Hill, Red Hill, Toowong, West End and Woolloongabba.
These expanded areas have access to high-frequency public transport such as Brisbane Metro and the future Cross River Rail project as well as active travel bridges.
The amendments strike a balance between supporting the growth of well-connected, inner-city areas while protecting Brisbane’s lifestyle and tin and timber suburbs.
The plan was submitted to the Queensland Government in February 2025 and received prompt approval, allowing adoption and gazettal to take place today.
While more than 57,000 homes were approved in Brisbane between 2019 and 2023, just half of those homes have been built, due to market forces such as high construction costs.
Industry experts estimate the cost of supplying an underground or podium level car park within a new Brisbane high-rise apartment building can easily exceed $100,000 per parking space.
It’s clear all levels of government must act to combat these industry challenges and deliver more homes, sooner.
The Schrinner Council continues to prioritise housing through other initiatives including:
- The Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct Plan
- Suburban Renewal Precincts (Stones Corner, Wynnum-Manly, Mt Gravatt)
- Brisbane Housing Supply Incentive
- Dedicated build-to-rent assessment unit
- Transitory Accommodation Rating Category
- Review of Brisbane’s major centres (Carindale, Chermside, Mt Gravatt, Indooroopilly, Toombul and Toowong)
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner
“Brisbane is one of Australia’s fastest growing capital cities and we are doing what we can to improve housing affordability and supply in well-serviced suburbs.
“Kickstarting the construction of affordable homes is one of the ways we can make an impact on the housing crisis with the limited levers we have.
“Data shows car ownership in the inner-city is reducing and under the current parking requirements these costs are passed on to potential buyers and renters who might not want a car.
“The timely support from the community and the State government on this initiative proves how vital it is to have more homes built in the right places sooner.”
