Anglicare Australia’s Housing Affordability Snapshot makes for scary reading. Byron Bay has zero affordable accommodation available for renting. That’s right, not one house or unit available in the whole town is considered within reach of those on a low income.
In Byron Shire 40 per cent of residents earn less than $400 a week.
Housing affordability is at breaking point in our community. It’s not good enough to blame the real estate market, the local, state or federal government. The reality is all of these contribute in some measure to our current housing crisis. But they could also be part of the solution.
The ALP is trying to have a crack at reigning in the housing investment bubble by having a go at negative gearing: that fantastically effective wealth transfer scheme taking from the poor to make some of us very rich. A scheme that fuels increased housing costs and higher rents.
Byron Council has dipped its toe into the affordable housing space by asking North Coast Community Housing to see if it can build some affordable housing units on land it wants to sell in Station Street, Mullumbimby.
This is a good start but it’s nowhere near good enough. We need to seriously consider changing the way we approach housing before it is too late for many in this region.
We need to define what affordable really means for development proposals. We need to make these definitions a part of local government regulations – enshrine affordability into the Byron LEP.
We all want to take care of the environment let’s also make sure we take care of the people.
We need to establish innovative models of housing such as shared equity schemes or community land trusts. Property developers, community housing providers and council could all have a role to play in such schemes.
Did you know it’s legal in NSW to offer 99-year leases over land? Think what this could mean for affordability if Council or a community housing provider owned the land and you just owned the house built upon it. That would immediately reduce the cost of housing in this area by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We have seen where market forces have taken us in the provision of affordable housing – backwards. Now its time to consider the alternatives.
We need to stop thinking of housing or land as a commodity to generate wealth.
An affordable, secure and safe place to live should be seen as a fundamental human right not a luxury beyond the reach of ordinary folk.
Byron Shire Cr Paul Spooner
I would love for house prices to be more affordable. But without drastic change in government policy (and I mean 100% overhaul of the private system of house development), nothing will change. It is just rhetoric when government cannot control the price of private market.
After living in Australia since 1996, I have been living in Singapore for the past 5 years. This is one of the tiniest nation on earth, compared to Australia which is basically a continent. Yet all of their citizen are given access to government HDB apartment (cheaper, lower quality apartments) managed by government entity (HDB = housing development board) in scheme that would not be out of place in a socialist country.
This is despite the country’s other economic policy being the most capitalistic in the world (lower taxes, no medical care, no subsidy for the unemployed, no minimum wage etc). So there are 2 housing system in this land starved country: one fully managed by the government for cheaper lower quality citizen, and a fully separate system of private housing by independent builders for the wealthier citizen and non citizen (foreigners).
After 8 years s chair of the council’s affordable housing committee I have seen most of the measures mentioned by Paul go on the agenda and fade away.
Real opportunities presented themselves but were frittered away by poor staff work and a lack of commitment from a majority of councilors.
The lot in Station St adjacent to the council carpark had thousands of ratepayer dollars expended on consultants and planners to eventually be abandoned.
The council-purchased block next to Woolies sat for years unused as staff and councilors dithered. It was a prime site which presented too much work for staff and became a political plaything for some councilors.
Sadly it was sold of by the current developer’s friends doubtless to bolster the GM’s anti-amalgamation fund.
Until the state government acknowledges the acute housing crisis and funds new projects and the council gets fair dinkum all the fine words in the run up to an election are just rhetoric.
Hey Paul, Rather than build out of character soviet style housing blocks – perhaps cast your eyes to the absentee owners currently short term holiday letting their houses? I’d reckon that a traditional longer term lease period would dramatically bring down the rent on scores of properties. It might even create a sense of community for neighbors who are currently unwilling to engage with the folks over the fence if there only there for a weekend..