Affordable Housing Policy on public exhibition

Inner West Council’s draft Affordable Housing Policy is now on public exhibition and is open for comment.

At the Tuesday 6 December Council meeting, it was resolved to put the draft Affordable Housing Policy with a city-leading 15% target on public exhibition to seek community feedback.

The Administrator of Inner West Council Richard Pearson said the inner west had experienced some of the most significant and rapid increases in property prices over the past decade.

“Even the lower priced strata dwellings are now mostly unaffordable to people on low and very low incomes,” he said.

“This has led to serious impacts on the social and economic fabric of our local community.

“We have evidence that a large, disproportionate and growing number of local people are in housing stress – people who are sacrificing basic necessities to pay for their housing costs,” he said.

“This urgent need for more affordable housing is not just about vulnerable groups such as aged pensioners and people with a disability but also low income emergency and service sector workers,” Mr Pearson said.

“Inner west housing has become so prohibitively expensive that even graduate teachers, child carers, nurses, and those in hospitality can struggle to meet rents and mortgages.

“That’s why we have taken action on affordable housing, not only because our residents have said they want us to confront the complex problem of housing affordability, but also because skyrocketing property prices are threatening our diversity,” Mr Pearson said.

The policy supports Council to acquire a fair share of the increase in land values resulting from rezonings and other planning decisions, to increase the stock of affordable rental housing. As well, the policy looks at creating more affordable housing on public land.

“We are aiming for at least 15 per cent affordable housing target on large developments, and 30 per cent on government owned land in urban renewal areas such as The Bays Precinct,” Mr Pearson said.

“Importantly, the policy is founded on strong economic fundamentals and will mean rezoning and urban renewal is still very feasible.

“The time is right for a significant investment in affordable housing in our local government area as we stand poised to see significant increases in housing supply over coming years,” Mr Pearson said.

The draft policy is part of a larger set of actions to increase the supply of affordable housing in the local government area.

To see the policy and make comment, go to http://www.yoursayinnerwest.com.au/affordable-housing-policy-on-public-exhibition Comments close 13 February 2017.

Affordable Housing Policy on public exhibition

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