Alison Worthington, Deputy Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire Council. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Doing medium density housing well, mandating that a percentage of all development is affordable housing, caps on short-term rentals, and levies on unoccupied dwellings are potential solutions to Eurobodalla’s housing crisis. These, along with several others, were discussed at the Eurobodalla Greens’ online housing forum on Wednesday (3 July).
NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson said it was very important to get the narrative right. “It is an access and affordability issue,” she said. She added that public money needed to be unleashed for public housing as was done in the past.
Bega Valley Shire Deputy Mayor Cathy Griff said solving housing was a complex discussion. “You have to pursue every strategy – the big meaty ones and the small ones.”
Short-term rental accommodation is a major issue. “Byron Bay has taken years to get a cap of 60 days on short-term rentals in certain areas,” Cr Griff said. She added that Victoria had a 7.5 per cent tax on short-stay accommodation while the City of Melbourne had backed a proposal to increase tax on vacant residential properties in the city. “I think those things are worth following up,” she said.
Eurobodalla Shire Deputy Mayor Alison Worthington said while the shire, particularly Batemans Bay, was on the verge of a building boom of one- and two-bedroom dwellings “there is nothing to prevent those becoming short-term rentals or holiday homes”.
Bega Valley Shire Deputy Mayor Cathy Griff has represented the Greens on the council since 2016. Photo: Bega Valley Shire Council.
Another issue is granny flats and tiny homes. “They are not complying wth regulations, are not necessarily safe and are at real risk of council having to dismantle them,” Cr Griff said. “I think the State Government is doing a review of mobile homes and tiny homes to get better definitions but at the moment it is very vague.”
She outlined several Bega Valley Shire Council initiatives such as its 2022 Affordable Housing Strategy and its Local Environment Plan amendments. These facilitate increased housing diversity and density so that more one- and two-bedroom dwellings can be built instead of three-bedroom houses. Bega’s old TAFE is being redeveloped into housing, 30 per cent being affordable.
Cr Griff said council would likely go ahead with its Affordable Housing Contributions Policy of levying affordable housing contributions where land was being rezoned such as the Bega and Wolumla residential growth areas.
She said other things to consider were getting hard data on the number of available rental homes that had been repaired and those that still needed fixing, plus temporary crisis accommodation pop-ups.
Another idea is a brokerage scheme. “It matches under-occupied houses with lodgers who could, for example, mow the lawn. Council could not get involved in that but there are organisations that could. I think it is being piloted in Orange.”
Greens MP Sue Higginson. Photo: Supplied.
Ms Higginson said the planning system was flawed. “Over the past 15 years we have seen disempowering of local councils by technocrats in Martin Place. State Government is cognisant that local communities drive better outcomes but the private property developer’s voice is very strong. Councils have good controls but the planning system is failing them because developers come in on top of them and take it to court.”
Cr Worthington said having a strong housing strategy with community input gave councils more power to stand up to developers and take them to court instead of developers taking councils to court. “If people say in the strategy paper we want a percentage of affordable housing we can take that to court as a planning policy.”
She said unless things changed, the mismatch between the shire’s housing supply and housing needs would continue growing. She also said the draft housing strategy was not ambitious enough and did not address building climate-resilient homes.
Nor was there enough focus on affordability. Cr Worthington noted the shire’s ageing population. There must be affordable housing available for the people who care for them.
Another question is can the shire get medium-density housing right. “Some of the best living in Europe is in three- to four-storey buildings,” Cr Worthington said. “We are already doing six- to eight-storeys in Batemans Bay and it is not contributing to social cohesion.
“We have to be ambitious and reach out, which is what Bega Valley Shire Council did on their strategy.”
Submissions are due by 4:30 pm, Wednesday 10 July.
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