More details are emerging around Council’s plans to rezone the former Mullum Hospital site to a residential precinct, which would see up to 130 dwellings built.
The planning proposal is open for feedback until February 11.
And while Mayor, Michael Lyon, confirmed that plans will include selling an unknown amount of land to recoup the $5m debt incurred in demolishing the building and remediation works, Local State MP Tamara Smith (Greens) told The Echo, ‘The notion that the costs to develop the site are somehow owed to Council from the community is absurd’.
Council purchased the site from NSW Health in 2019 for $1.
Cr Lyon told The Echo there are no finalised plans for the site yet, ‘including the final component of social, affordable [housing] or otherwise’. Cr Lyon said, ‘We will undoubtedly entertain having social housing outcomes on the site, we won’t be paying for it, it will need to be funded by state and/or federal government’.
Only 20% to remain in public ownership
He also defended Council’s vision for the site, claiming that it will not be a transfer of public wealth to private investment.
Cr Lyon said a portion of the site – estimated at 20 per cent – will provide social and affordable housing and, ‘can potentially stay in public ownership and control’.
‘Further, in order to provide affordable housing outcomes, and to build the housing, some of the lots and/or land will need to be sold to the private market. There is no other way to do it’.
The guarantee that the project will provide affordable housing, says Cr Lyon, is that, ‘it will be based on people’s ability to pay, rather than on discount to market, and it will be in perpetuity’.
‘We have developed the Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme (AHCS), the first regional Council in NSW to do so.
‘Through this, we will be able to facilitate social housing outcomes by lobbying for funding from state and federal governments so that a portion of these affordable houses can be converted into social housing outcomes’.
Lack of transparency
A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure confirmed with The Echo that, ‘Council has not approached the NSW government to include social housing on this site’.
And like most Council projects, there is little transparency.
The Echo approached community members involved in the most recent design process, but they said reluctantly they were unable to comment, owing to them signing a media gag order.
Public, social and affordable housing
Local State MP Tamara Smith (Greens) told The Echo, ‘Byron Shire Council still has the opportunity to approach the state government for assistance to deliver public housing on the Mullumbimby hospital site, and I hope that they take the opportunity.’
Public housing is government-run (not for profit); social housing is provided in partnership with government and affordable housing developers (for profit) while affordable housing is developer-led (for profit).
Ms Smith said, ‘When the state government closed our hospital and offered the land back to the community after intense lobbying by our citizenry, it was a return to the community, not a windfall for Council’.
‘Council owns the land, and it is worth a lot of money. It is an asset on their books, so the notion that the costs to develop the site are somehow owed to Council from the community is absurd.
‘This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver much needed public housing for people in our community. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are overrepresented significantly on public housing waiting lists and the current waitlist for people in our area is 10-20 years!’
20 per cent pegged as ‘affordable’
Federal Greens candidate, Mandy Nolan has been a vocal proponent for housing for those who are vulnerable and unable to find secure rental accommodation.
Given Council proposes just 20 per cent of the entire site as ‘affordable’, The Echo asked Ms Nolan whether she thought that would be a good outcome?
She replied, ‘We’re in the heart of a housing crisis, and this is a prime piece of flood-free land in Mullumbimby. This is the perfect opportunity to take real action to address the housing crisis. The needs of this community needs to be at the centre of all decisions made about this land’.
‘Everything possible should be done to keep this land in public hands. The state government needs to step up and support Council to do just that.
‘They have the money.
‘The Greens have fought for greater investment in housing at a state and federal level. Council should take advantage of the additional money The Greens have delivered and use the site to deliver much-needed public housing for our region.
‘We need to address the lack of confidence the community has with the term ‘affordable’ housing.
‘We know that in a market like ours, the affordable metric is problematic, and very often houses built with this in mind are not affordable. Or if they are, don’t remain so.
‘Any affordable housing component on this land must be in perpetuity, not for a fixed period, and be truly affordable. This means rents that are indexed to a person’s income and not based on the market rate, which is so astronomically high that even a reduced rental rate is out of reach for most renters’.
The planning spokesperson also said, ‘We acknowledge the state’s current housing crisis and the need for more social housing in regions such as the Byron Shire. There are 247 social housing properties in the Byron LGA. In the surrounding LGAs, a further 240 social housing homes (119 Tweed, 61 Richmond Valley, 29 Ballina and 22 in Lismore) have been committed to as part of the Flood Recovery Program.
To read the planning proposal, visit www.byron.nsw.gov.au.
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