2021-12-13 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               13 DECEMBER 2021


•    A lack of housing diversity, and particularly smaller dwellings;
•    Low levels of social and emergency housing;
•    Conflict between holiday makers and permanent residents.
In adopting Noosa Plan 2020 Council specifically resolved to monitor the effectiveness of the
provisions of Noosa Plan 2020 in enabling the delivery of housing choice and affordability to meet
the diverse needs of the community, specifically housing for those in the community on low incomes,
with special needs or in identified groups in need of community and affordable housing.
Since the commencement of Noosa Plan 2020, (and more so since the preparation of the previous
HNA) circumstances in the local and broader national housing market have changed significantly.
This has been in part because of fiscal policy, interest rates and the impacts of the COVID19
pandemic. In 2021 home ownership and affordable rental accommodation eludes many low to
moderate income earners, having an impact on the social and economic composition and functioning
of the Shire.
Council has requested a report into the housing situation in Noosa with sufficient rigour and evidence
to inform scheme amendments, inform the assessment of development applications and inform the
development of a Housing Strategy which identifies a range of actions or interventions that Council
could take.
Accordingly, a new HNA has been prepared which reviews the housing market context including
housing sales and rental markets, analyses a range of population and statistical data, provides
commentary of National and State Housing Policy and the range of issues associated with the
current housing challenge.
The Queensland Government has recently released a document called “Integrating State Interests
in a Planning Scheme: Guidance for Local Governments”. It includes a section on housing supply
and diversity and articulates the importance of preparing a housing needs assessment to estimate
the required quantities of different dwelling types, sizes and tenures to best cater to the projected
resident demographics in the local government area over the life of the planning scheme. It also
establishes the expectations of what the approach should be in developing the HNA and what
elements it should contain. Council’s 2021 HNA assessment meets the criteria set out in this
publication which is important as it will form a key component when the planning scheme
amendments are submitted for the state interest consideration.
2.   Population and Household Characteristics
The estimated resident population for Noosa Shire at June 2020 was 56,587 persons. The State
projects this to increase to 64,999 persons at 2041.
Compared with the broader State, Noosa has a high rate of lone person households and couples
without children living at home. It is highly represented by retirees and under-represented by young
adults and young families. The hinterland, as well as the coastal communities from Sunshine Beach
to Peregian Beach have a somewhat higher proportion of families with children.
Average household size for the Shire at 2016 was 2.4 persons and most frequently there were more
bedrooms in a dwelling than residents (average of 0.8 persons per bedroom). These figures varied
around the Shire.
Occupied private dwellings are dominated by separate houses, most of which are at least 3
bedrooms in size. Many modern duplexes and units also have 3 bedrooms.
While the Noosa Plan 2020 now specifically seeks to encourage smaller dwellings, they have not
been the preferred development model in recent years. Developers and home builders are reflecting
the high cost of land with high end larger dwellings.
At census night 2016, 4,671 (18.8%) of the 24,815 private dwellings were unoccupied. The
proportion of unoccupied private dwellings was as high as 36.68% in Noosa Heads, followed by
28.36% in Sunshine Beach, 27.72% in Peregian Beach - Marcus Beach, 19.65% in Noosaville.


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