2020-12-17 Ordinary Meeting Agenda

ORDINARY MEETING AGENDA                                                          17 DECEMBER 2020


I am proposing a two-stage approach. This first stage seeks Council’s approval to commence a
process to look at what sites might be suitable for community housing developments and what
changes might be required to our planning scheme to enable such community housing developments
to proceed. This first stage also ensures that we consider affordable housing as part of our Local
Economic Plan review process as it is critical that housing is available for key workers in our Shire.

The second stage will be for Council to consider specific sites identified by staff and to consider what
community housing models would be suitable for those sites. It will be critical for Council to ensure
that any potential changes to our planning scheme or other policies are sufficiently robust to ensure
that we get the outcomes we desire. For example, there is no point in providing additional
development rights for a proposed affordable housing site if there is no guarantee that affordable
housing will be available in the long term for residents at that site. That is why it is also important
that we liaise with relevant state and community housing providers such as Coast 2 Bay to ensure
that the desired outcome of long-term affordable housing is achieved.

The Mayoral Minute is intended to commence stage 1 of the process with Council staff to report back
on opportunities for specific sites and what changes might be needed to our planning scheme to
achieve the outcome we desire. At that time, we should also receive advice from staff about how we
can ensure that any changes to the planning scheme would require that property to be used for
affordable housing in the long term, probably through a designated community housing provider.

It is also important that Council continue to work closely with our local member Sandy Bolton MLA
who has established a local Housing Action Group that is also working through this issue. This issue
is also one that Sandy Bolton MLA is passionate about and is doing good work with her Housing
Action Group. As Mayor, I am a member of that Housing Action Group. The State is an important
player in the affordable and community housing sector and our pathway forward in this community
will need State involvement.

Set out below is some background to the issue of affordable housing prepared by Council staff to
assist Council in the consideration of this Mayoral Minute.


Background and Context

Following the re-establishment of Noosa Shire in 2014, Council prepared and adopted a Social
Strategy which acknowledged as a key issue, the availability of affordable housing, rental housing
and short-term crisis housing. A Housing Needs Assessment was undertaken by Briggs & Mortar,
endorsed by Council in April 2017 for the purpose of informing the drafting of the new planning
scheme.

In the prevailing years there has been little advancement in housing choice, and affordability has
become an even greater concern. Noosa Shire remains a place where many people want to move
to and the demand for housing outstrips the supply. As well as the usual inward migration of retirees,
recently there has been a surge in working people seeking to relocate from densely populated cities
to regional communities.

A large number of houses, units and secondary dwellings are let to short term guests or locked up
as holiday homes rather than housing permanent residents. Retirement and residential care facilities
with approvals in place have not eventuated. Market realities continue to favour large high end
dwellings rather than small modest ones.

Alongside this, the impact of COVID19 has meant many household incomes have dropped
significantly.




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