The draft strategy puts Snowy Monaro’s land use under a microscope. Photo: Region.
Snowy Monaro residents are getting older and more likely to live in smaller households, a report prepared for their council has found.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council (SMRC) released the draft Snowy Monaro Residential, Commercial and Industrial Lands Strategy 2025-2045 for feedback in July.
It is comprised of two reports – a main report and a background report.
They aim to help prepare SMRC for future housing and employment growth for the Snowy Monaro region over the next 20 years.
Part of the draft report breaks down the region’s housing stock, including its availability and diversity.
Currently, just over half of the area’s housing stock is in three locations – Cooma, Jindabyne and Bombala – and rentals are most common in Jindabyne, Dalgety and Kalkite.
Most houses in the Snowy Monaro region (at 77.8%) are separate houses, the draft report has found, while 69.3% of houses have three or more bedrooms.
Jindabyne comes in with the most diversity in its housing stock – separate dwellings are listed at 48.5%, apartments at 35.7% and semi-detached dwellings make up 15.8%.
The number of four-bedroom homes has also been increasing in recent years, from 18.7% in 2006 to 22.9% in 2021.
“To ensure that housing is more suited to household size and is affordable, more one- and two-bedroom dwellings are needed,” the background report recommends.
The background report also estimates that 4.6% of households (or 371 households) represent an “unmet need” for affordable housing.
The region’s households also appear to be becoming smaller, according to the report, with couples without children and single-person households each comprising about a quarter of the population.
The main report also found that 53.1% of single-person households live in a three- or four-bedroom house, while 2576 dwellings have at least two bedrooms empty.
It also found that the highest number of unoccupied dwellings is in Jindabyne (at 38%) and the lowest along the “Canberra Corridor” at Bredbo and Michelago (with 12%).
“Unoccupied dwellings include holiday houses, short-term rental accommodation (STRA), absentee landholders and vacant dwellings,” the document states.
Between them, Cooma, Jindabyne (and East Jindabyne), Bombala and Berridale are projected to have an additional 3202 homes by 2045, while other nearby settlements are expected to accommodate up to 448 future homes (not including lots zoned R5 Large Lot Residential).
The draft report also raises changes to planning controls to increase housing diversity.
“Increasing the diversity of Snowy Monaro’s housing stock will improve housing suitability for the region’s ageing population and growth in lone person households,” the draft main report predicts.
This could be done through rezoning land to residential or village-zoned land (such as in Cooma, Bredbo and Dalgety), it suggests.
The report also proposes looking at government-owned land in Adaminaby and Dalgety that could be made available for housing.
The draft background report also notes private rental availability has increased from 1354 (in 2018) to 1809 (in 2024), and this increase was driven by houses.
According to the main report, the council should prepare for an additional 4452 dwellings by 2045.
Once the public exhibition stage for the draft Snowy Monaro Residential, Commercial and Industrial Lands Strategy 2025-2045 closes, a report on the feedback will be presented to councillors. Comments will close at 11:59 pm on 1 September.
SMRC is also organising in-person sessions in July and August at locations around the region.
