Housing reform bills 'not a silver bullet': minister

Plans to let first-home buyers purchase a property with a smaller deposit won't be a silver bullet, the housing minister concedes, with federal parliament set to pass the reforms. Labor's Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes will become law after the Greens agreed to wave the proposals through parliament following months of debate. The Help to Buy scheme is a shared equity program that will allow 10,000 first-home buyers each year to purchase a house with a contribution from the government. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil welcomed the end of the political stalemate on the reforms, but said the laws wouldn't immediately fix problems in the sector. "This is not a silver bullet, and it was never meant to be," she told Nine's Today program on Tuesday. "The truth is we've had a generations-in-the-making housing crisis in our country that's been building for more than 30 years and it requires our government to do lots of things differently. "We're trying to build many more homes in our country. We're trying to get a better deal for renters. We're trying to get more Australians into home ownership. It's a big, complex program, and it's going to take some time." Greens Leader Adam Bandt denied the delay by his party in agreeing to the two housing bills had kept first-home buyers out of the market. "For over the last two months, we pushed them to to go further and do what's needed to really tackle the housing crisis. They've said no," he told ABC TV. "The question that people will ask is, with all of the government's legislation passed, why is it that it's the case that we still have a housing crisis in this country?" Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said the party had agreed to pass the reforms in order to set sites on action for renters at the next election, which is due by May. He said the minor party had not capitulated by backing the housing reforms after months of heated debate. "There comes a point where you've pushed as far as you can, and you know, we really tried to get the government to act on soaring rents, on phasing our negative gearing," he told ABC radio. "I haven't lost hope, because I think we can go to the next election with those policies, and I think we can push Labor after that." It comes as opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar prepares to speak at the National Press Club on Tuesday. The opposition will argue banking regulation has made it harder for first-home buyers to secure a loan. The coalition has been angling to weaken "responsible lending" obligations imposed on banks after the global financial crisis that it believes are too cumbersome and create barriers for first-time buyers. "If there's one message I want Australians to take away from my remarks today, it's that the coalition will not accept a generation of Australians not having the same opportunities that previous generations have enjoyed for home ownership," Mr Sukkar will say.