2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

to this number. While people from Johns Landing were re-homed, more people have become
homeless since the last census, however actual numbers are unknown and can change frequently.
Council is aware of a significant number of individuals and families in overcrowded “couch surfing”
conditions, camping, or living in cars.
Equity Economics has published (July 2021).a report titled Nowhere to Go: The benefits of providing
long-term social housing to women that have experienced domestic and family violence. This states
that family and domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women and children.
Nationally, there was a noticeable increase in the number of women seeking specialist
homelessness services that had experienced family and domestic violence.
Interestingly, AHURI research has found there is no single definition of what constitutes a ‘key
worker’. The term usually refers to employees in services that are essential to the functioning of a
place but who earn low to moderate incomes. Importantly, key worker jobs require physical
presence, few key workers can ‘work from home’. Proximity to work is particularly important in
healthcare, emergency services, hospitality, classrooms and some community and welfare support
roles in order for workers to cover shifts, quickly respond to increases in service demand and attend
emergency situations. In regions with high housing costs, this makes access to appropriate and
affordable housing in reasonable proximity to work difficult for key workers.7
The household characteristic of those in need of housing assistance is diverse and accordingly the
form that suitable housing takes will differ. Separate homes, units, rooming accommodation, group
homes etc may all be important components of the solution. Generally proximity to employment,
schools, services and transport are important but sometimes quiet seclusion away from town centres
is preferred.
There are many residents of Noosa Shire who have low incomes, however not all of them are in
need of housing assistance. There are for example a significant number on age pensions who own
their own home.
Unfortunately, the broader housing market of first-time home buyers, downsizers, growing families
and new residents are competing in a very tight market and unless they qualify for some form of
government assistance may not have their housing needs met in Noosa Shire.


2.3         Dwelling Targets
ShapingSEQ. The South East Queensland Regional Plan, establishes that Noosa’s expected
population growth will require 6,400 additional dwellings between 2016 and 2041, through its
dwelling supply benchmarks. The State’s Land Supply and Development Monitoring Report 2021
acknowledges that the capacity and realistic availability of planned dwelling supply in Noosa provides
more than the minimum 15 years of supply sought by ShapingSEQ. It notes the supply of
uncompleted lot approvals is well below the minimum four years of supply sought by ShapingSEQ,
however there are about 4.8 years of uncompleted multiple dwelling approvals in the Noosa
consolidation area (refer section 2.4 for explanation).
This monitoring process advises that dwelling approvals in Noosa increased by 19% when compared
to the total dwelling growth recorded in 2019/20, largely influenced by the HomeBuilder government
stimulus and low interest rate environment. This has led to Noosa continuing to track above or in-
line with the average annual benchmark in both consolidation and expansion areas.
Growth in the consolidation area should proportionately increase as expansion land supply
diminishes. In other words, while outward expansion is constrained, there is still capacity for
redevelopment within urban areas for a variety of higher density attached housing or small dwellings.



7 Gilbert, C., Nasreen, Z. and Gurran, N. (2021) Housing key workers: scoping challenges, aspirations, and

policy responses for Australian cities, AHURI Final Report No. 355, Australian Housing and Urban Research
Institute Limited, Melbourne.


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