YIMBY Hobart submission - draft Hobart Housing Action Plan

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft Hobart Housing Action Plan. YIMBY Hobart was established to advocate for:

1. Housing abundance: More housing of all types where people want to live.

2. A city for people at all ages and stages, of all means and abilities: Our city and suburbs should reflect the diversity of the community as a whole.

3. Better access for everyone: Being an active participant in our city should not rely on owning a car.

Overall assessment

YIMBY Hobart strongly supports this Action Plan. We commend the City of Hobart for taking a leadership role on this issue.

The plan correctly identifies the key barriers to housing supply in Hobart: construction costs, regulatory delay, the loss of long-term rental stock to visitor accommodation, underutilised land, and a lack of medium-density precedents. Its proposed responses are, on the whole, sensible and well-targeted.

The plan contains a range of recommendations that respond directly to the issues identified, and we appreciate that many are delivery-focused rather than aspirational. Actions to develop an infrastructure incentives package with TasWater and TasNetworks, fast-track residential planning applications, restrict the conversion of dwellings to visitor accommodation, reduce parking requirements, and collaborate with housing providers to develop housing on Council land are practical measures that will make a difference. 

From strategy to delivery

Our main concern with this plan is not its content but its context. Tasmania does not lack housing strategies. The Tasmanian Housing Strategy 2023–43, the Southern Tasmania Regional Land Use Strategy, the 30 Year Greater Hobart Plan, the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor Growth Strategy, the Central Hobart Plan, the North Hobart Neighbourhood Plan, the Improving Residential Standards in Tasmania project, and now this document all diagnose similar problems and propose broadly similar solutions.

What Hobart lacks is delivery. There have been more housing strategies delivered in recent years than medium-density developments. Many of these documents have taken years to develop. The Improving Residential Standards project began in 2022 and, as of March 2026, has produced recommendations but no amendments to the planning scheme. The Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor has been identified as a priority for residential development for over a decade, with limited visible progress.

We do not say this to diminish the value of the Action Plan, but to encourage the City to move quickly to implementation. The housing crisis will ultimately be solved by making it cheaper, faster and simpler to build homes where people want to live. 

In this spirit, we encourage the City to set clear, measurable targets for the delivery of actions in this plan, and to report on progress against those targets.

Strengthening advocacy on the Improving Residential Standards project

We note that Action 3.2 references the State Government's Improving Residential Standards project as an ongoing item that the City will "continue to work with" the State Government on. We support this recommendation but believe it should be strengthened.

The IRS project produced a range of important recommendations, including removing density controls in favour of plot ratios and building envelopes, increasing heights in the Inner Residential Zone, and introducing height bonuses for social housing. 

Unfortunately, the most impactful reform set out in the Standards, making compliant multiple-dwelling developments "no permit required" in many areas, did not survive into the final document. A code-assessed pathway for townhouses and small apartment buildings would significantly reduce the cost and delay of medium-density development in existing suburbs.

This is not a radical idea. Victoria introduced its Townhouse and Low-Rise Code in March 2025, which provides a "deemed to comply" pathway for multi-dwelling developments up to three storeys. Where a proposal meets all applicable standards, council must approve it without further assessment and third-party appeal rights are limited. New Zealand has gone further, allowing construction of up to three dwellings on an existing site without planning approval. The City of Hobart should be a loud and persistent advocate for Tasmania emulating these reforms.

Despite the strength of the remaining IRS recommendations, the project has stalled. The final report was released in early 2025. As of March 2026, no amendments to the State Planning Provisions have been drafted, let alone exhibited or adopted. The only element that has progressed is the secondary residence size increase from 60m² to 90m², which, while welcome, is the least ambitious element of the package.

We recommend that Action 3.2 be amended to include a specific advocacy commitment along the following lines:

Advocate for the State Government to accelerate the implementation of the Improving Residential Standards in Tasmania recommendations, and to introduce a code-assessed approval pathway for compliant multiple-dwelling developments in the General Residential and Inner Residential Zones.

Conclusion

This is a strong plan from a council that is clearly taking the housing crisis seriously. We support its direction, welcome the range of actions proposed, and encourage the City to move quickly from endorsement to delivery.

We would be happy to meet with the City to discuss this submission further.