Home ownership scheme starts on Palm Island

The Queensland Government has delivered a new pathway to home ownership on Palm Island with the first families set to sign on to a landmark Rent-to-Buy scheme.   

Unlocking home ownership for Palm Island residents was a key election commitment of the State Government, after feedback from the local community.

The Palm Island Rent-to-Buy Home Ownership Scheme enables residents to buy their social home by entering an agreement with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council.

When the payment plan is complete, ownership is transferred to the participant through a 99-year home ownership lease.

Key points

• New Rent-to-Buy Scheme opens for applications on Palm Island.
• Qld Government delivering on promise to unlock home ownership for Palm Island residents.
• First-of-its-kind scheme designed in partnership with Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council allows social housing tenants to buy the home they live in.

Only 1.4 per cent of Palm Island residents own their own home, highlighting the desperate need for housing solutions like the new Palm Island Home Ownership Scheme.

The scheme will start with an initial 10 households, with the potential to expand and based on demand up to 300 Council-owned social homes available for residents to buy in the coming years.

Overcoming barriers to home ownership

It will be administered by the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, in its capacity as Trustee, with support from the Government locked in through the 2026-27 Budget.

The scheme is designed to overcome barriers to home ownership in remote and discrete communities, including high costs and difficulties accessing loans.

Minister for Housing Sam O’Connor said the Government was working with local leaders to make home ownership a reality for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

“This is a life-changing opportunity for the Queenslanders on Palm Island who have wanted to have the same ability as everyone else to own their own home,” Minister O’Connor said.

“Right now, just 1.4 per cent of residents on Palm Island own their own home, far below the State’s overall home ownership rate of 64 per cent, which is why a new, practical way of doing things was desperately needed.

“We’ve worked closely with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council and the community to understand their needs and deliver a model designed to help locals achieve their home ownership aspirations.”

Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Fiona Simpson said the Palm Island community has put in the hard work to achieve great outcomes.

“The Government recognises that home ownership is a path to self-determination and economic empowerment for our First Peoples,” Minister Simpson said.

“Home ownership has been disproportionately difficult to do in our Indigenous communities, but this announcement clearly demonstrates the work we are doing to address this, because all Queenslanders have a right to a pathway to home ownership.”

Member for Townsville Adam Baillie MP said the launch of the Rent-to-Buy Scheme was another example of listening to the community, with feedback shaping real outcomes.

Australian dream

“Every Queenslander should have the opportunity to own their own home, and for years that pathway has not been available to residents on Palm Island but that changes today,” Mr Baillie said.

“Owning your own home is the great Australian dream, and it is exciting to be on Palm Island today sharing how residents can turn that dream into reality.”

Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey said this was history in the making for the community, because home ownership has been so out of reach.

“The Home Ownership Scheme provides a new opportunity to own a home and at the same time, wealth creation for the next generation of our people,” Mayor Lacey said.

“I’d like to express, on behalf of our community, to the Government, this is not a hand up or a handout, it’s better. This government has proven that it can walk side by side with us to create meaningful opportunities for our people and I didn’t think I’d see this in my lifetime.”