2016-10-11 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

THEME: HOUSING CHOICES
                                                                                                                    and rental prices are well above the state average.
Where are we now                                         national average of around 10%. While the high
                                                         number of empty dwellings reflects the tourism             However, Noosa has many high valued investment
                                                         nature of Noosa, it significantly impacts the supply       homes owned by people living outside of the Shire,
Having access to suitable housing is one of the most
                                                         and choice of housing for residents. Of those              whose income is not considered in local statistics.




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important aspects of people’s lives. Where people
                                                         dwellings occupied, 80% are detached dwelling              Noosa has hundreds of social housing assets,
choose to live and the type of housing they select
                                                         houses on lots upward of 500sqm containing mostly




                                        F
is influenced by a number of factors. These include                                                                 including houses, duplexes, apartments and senior
                                                         3-4 bedrooms.                                              units. Other available support housing includes 22
household size, housing supply, cost, accessibility to
                                                                                                                    emergency dwellings, one six bed community house




                                       A
services and employment, location preference and         Around a quarter of households in Noosa Shire are
lifestyle choices. Noosa is a desirable place to live,   lone persons and nearly half of all families are couples   for people with disability requiring full time care, 214
                                                         with no children. Specifically, lone person households     transition dwellings and temporary assisted youth




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however housing choice is limited and some sectors
                                                         account for 29.0% of all households in Tewantin,           accommodation. Backpackers, caravan and camping
of the community struggle to find housing suitable to
                                                         29.1% in Noosaville and 25% in Noosa Heads. Couple         sites are also used as transitional and temporary




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their needs and circumstances.
                                                         families with no children account for 60% of families      housing. Approximately 140 applications for social
Noosa’s housing stock is made up of approximately        in Noosa Heads, and 55.4%, of families in Noosaville       housing are waiting for housing, most of whom are
26,500 dwellings. Around 75% of them are single          reflecting the high number of empty nesters and the        single people over 55 or single parent families.
detached houses. About 6,000 are attached or             locations they are attracted to.                           Noosa has a number of retirement villages and aged
semi-detached such as units or townhouses (22%
                                                         Over a third of all occupied dwellings between             care facilities such as nursing homes.
of the dwelling stock), however around 37% of
these dwellings are estimated to be used as visitor      Sunshine Beach and Peregian, are being rented.             Land zoned for single detached dwellings has largely
                                                         Renting also accounts for a significant proportion         been taken up or is currently in staged development,
accommodation. Around 18% of detached houses are
                                                         of dwellings in Noosa Heads and Noosaville. 37%            with vacant housing sites mostly in Noosaville and
also estimated to be used as visitor accommodation.
                                                         of dwellings in Noosa Shire are owned outright             Cooroy and other sites scattered throughout the
Two – three storey attached or semi-attached             and 32% are paying off a mortgage. The median              Shire. Land available for attached housing in the
housing is located within the coastal areas largely      dwelling price for the 12 months to December 2015          existing urban area is also limited.
around activity centres and in locations with a high     remains higher than the State average. Noosa’s
                                                                                                                    Smaller 1-2 bedroom dwelling options for single
level of amenity. There are also a few duplexes,         median dwelling price is $530,000 compared to the
                                                                                                                    people, couples and those wanting to downsize is
townhouses and flats in Cooroy and Pomona. The           State median of $427,000. The price of a detached
                                                                                                                    limited. Over half of all attached housing is used
rural residential and rural areas contain single         house can vary significantly across the Shire from
                                                                                                                    as visitor accommodation and much of the land
detached dwellings, and some have a second               mid $300,000s to over $7m depending on the
                                                                                                                    set aside for attached or semi-attached housing is
dwelling on site.                                        location and style.
                                                                                                                    also taken up by visitor accommodation. There is
Nearly 20% of all dwellings in Noosa are unoccupied      Median household income in Noosa is well below the         also an absence of permanent dwellings in town
which is considerably higher than the state and          Queensland average, yet median house purchase              centres. Granny flats attached to existing dwellings

14 The New Noosa Plan