Advocacy For Affordable Housing

Frank Wilkie17:55

Thank you, Director. Okay, there are no Mayoral minutes. We have one notified motion. Advocacy for affordable housing. Councillor Lorentson, would you like to talk about the motion?

Amelia Lorentson18:08

I'll move the motion that Council A request that the Mayor write to the Queensland state government seeking clarification on whether the State is considering the development of affordable housing for essential workers above state above-owned state car parks located at key service facilities such as schools, hospitals, police stations, fire stations, SES facilities and surf clubs and include in the correspondence that if this approach is not currently part of the State's Housing Strategy, request the State government investigate its feasibility as a practical solution to address housing shortages in high demand coastal communities like Noosa. Have a second for that please? I'll second. Councillor Wilson, Councillor Lorentson. Noosa Shire is experiencing a severe housing shortage particularly for essential workers including teachers, Noosa's, police, emergency services, and other frontline staff. Rising property prices and limited rental availability have made it increasingly difficult for these workers to live locally which is already impacting service delivery and community resilience. The Queensland government has undertaken a state land audit building houses above existing state owned car parks at essential service location offers a cost effective and strategic solution that avoids costly land acquisitions and makes better use of public assets. Noosa essential worker housing crisis that threatens the delivery of critical services. State owned sites often include large underutilised car parks that could accommodate housing above existing facilities. Developing housing on these sites would optimise public assets, reduce costs and ensure essential workers can live within the communities that they serve. The State land audit identified numerous parcels suitable for housing but clarity is needed on whether vertical development over car parks is being considered. Seeking this information will inform local advocacy and planning and support ongoing efforts by our local member of parliament Sandy Bolton and the community to secure practical housing solutions. I'm just going to throw in some data and also note that I was planning to move this at the LGAQ conference this year but unfortunately been completed um and this is basically in response to the excellent efforts that our um state member of parliament Sandy Bolton has been making in this space. Um just some data in Noosa um households in housing stress uh one thousand one hundred and four five point one of all households. Median house price in Noosa is one point four million versus seven hundred and thirty-five thousand in regional Queensland. Our median rent weekly rent um is nine hundred and fifty dollars for houses and seven hundred dollars for units. Vacancy rate here in Noosa Shire one percent um a healthy rate for example is three point six to four percent um and a lot of our essential workers at the moment are community commuting long distances um and live outside the Shire due to the lack of rentals and again this undermined undermines emergency response and service delivery.