Greens’s call for urgent affordable housing audit and initiative from Eurobodalla Shire Council

With the spike in housing prices across the South Coast making it more and more difficult for residents to afford to buy or rent, Greens candidates for the upcoming council election call on Eurobodalla Shire Council to be a part of the solution.

The Greens’ plan would start with an urgent audit of all council properties suitable for affordable housing development.

“Council claims that the proposed sale of council operational land at Dalmeny, as part of a larger land release area, will reduce pressure on housing affordability, but the sale of the land to private developers guarantees no such thing,” said Greens lead candidate for council Alison Worthington.

“Council is in a position to do much more to address the housing and homelessness crisis in our region by retaining ownership of land suitable for genuine affordable housing development.

“As the largest landholder in the region, Council can partner with well established community housing providers (CHP) and then develop low cost housing for residents in urgent need of secure housing. There are over 130 registered community housing providers who can partner with the council to deliver affordable housing.”

Ms Worthington said that right now too many locals are being priced out of the market. “We know we’ll have further pressure on rental housing when we need to accommodate workers for the construction of the new hospital and Moruya bypass too.

“Council needs to urgently develop a Homelessness and Affordable Housing Strategy, which currently sits in the Local Strategic Planning Strategy 2020-2040 as only a medium-term priority,” Ms Worthington said.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said:

“Simply opening up more land for private development that gets snapped up by buyers from Sydney and Melbourne will not make housing more affordable.

“What will make housing fairer and cheaper is increasing the stock of affordable housing, and council is best placed to make that happen with its large land holdings.

“A council partnership with a community housing provider is the most cost effective and dependable way to get more affordable housing in the region. It builds on council’s main asset which is land, and it partners with the most effective not for profit housing providers.

“Done well, this could come at no net cost to the council's operational budget, with the investment being almost entirely in the land and staffing hours necessary to make it happen,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Ms Worthington added that with the strategic use of these partnerships we will move closer to community rather than developer-led housing solutions.

“In such a partnership the community will have more say in ensuring that the masterplan for an affordable housing initiative will adhere to principles of Water Sensitive urban Design (WSUD), walkable neighbourhoods, lot design informed by passive solar access and the preservation of environmental corridors to minimise negative impacts on native fauna and flora,” she said.

Eurobodalla Shire Council will vote in the upcoming meeting this Tuesday 13th July on the matter of the sale of operational land at Dalmeny.

Greens MP David Shoebridge with Alison Worthington, Lead Candidate, Eurobodalla Greens