Q: How will you balance affordable housing and the environment?
Cr : The cornerstones of our community are our precious natural environment and our creative spirit. The housing crisis has impacted the latter. We need vibrant, connected areas with character and opportunity while protecting our local environment. As the Greens’ mayoral candidate, I’m committed to tackling the housing crisis with a comprehensive approach, working with all levels of government and our innovative community.
There’s no single solution; it’s a complex issue I’ve been addressing for years. We urgently need public housing. We must regulate the short-term rental market, which impacts housing supply and affordability. Increasing density in existing towns rather than expanding into undeveloped areas is crucial. Multi-use developments can integrate affordable housing with commercial spaces.
Cr Asren Pugh: After years of inaction by Council and the state government, with the recent approval of the first Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme (AHCS), we have the opportunity to build truly affordable housing. Twenty per cent of all new developments across the Shire will be directly handed to Council for affordable housing. I’ve started discussions with the NSW Housing Minister, Rose Jackson, about accessing the $6 billion for housing in the NSW Budget.
New residential developments must be designed with the community and the environment at their centre. I made sure that our Residential Strategy requires all new residential developments to be master planned.
Cr Michael Lyon: We do this by involving the community in all stages of the process as we seek to deliver housing on the ground at the level that people can afford.
We do that by incorporating our community’s wishes around character and amenity, and by building the supporting infrastructure so that we can embrace the growth in housing that we need, and not fight it.
Q: What should be done with Byron’s pod villages once the leases expire?
Cr Sarah Ndiaye: We need to focus on innovative and compassionate solutions and prioritise the wellbeing of residents ensuring no one is left facing homelessness or an uncertain housing situation.
Further consultation will be needed going forward. The pod villages have served an important role in our post-flood response, but they were not originally intended to be a permanent housing solution.
Cr Asren Pugh: In the middle of a housing and homelessness crisis, I do not support making anyone homeless, so we will need to keep the pods in place for a while. As a strategy, it is not best practice to concentrate vulnerable people in such a small area long term. As we roll out the AHCS we will need to work with the state government to ensure that the pods are properly managed, safe, and that residents can be transitioned to more permanent housing. I support returning the playground and park area back to the residents of Bayside as this was a commitment made when the pods were built.
Cr Michael Lyon: I believe that a massive investment has been made in the temporary emergency housing and we should seek to maintain that until it is no longer needed. For the site in Mullum, I support it continuing it until such time as we can replace it with an affordable housing development that takes advantage of the civil infrastructure that has already been put in place. This aligns with the Mullumbimby Masterplan and is desperately needed. For the Tweed Street site, I support this continuing indefinitely. For the Torakina Drive site, I believe we should see out the five -year term of the lease and options, and then return it to community open space as promised. If the pods are no longer used on their current sites, we should relocate them in my view to somewhere appropriate, to provide emergency or transition housing.
Q: Outline an original idea you have to solve the housing crisis.
Cr Sarah Ndiaye: One approach is modular co-housing. These prefabricated homes allow for rapid construction, minimal waste, and flexible design. Ideally, we could develop them in the Northern Rivers.
The idea is to create a network of modular homes that can be assembled on available plots, including unused urban spaces. They can accommodate varying family sizes and needs, focusing on affordability and sustainability.
Cr Asren Pugh: It was Labor Councillor Paul Spooner that championed the Community Land Trust in our Shire. This has now come to fruition with housing for women and children on The Saddle Road.
With housing, we also need to get the basics right – just building more real affordable housing. We don’t need endless houses spread across our hinterland, this is bad for the environment and the most expensive way to deliver services like water, sewerage, waste and roads.
Cr Michael Lyon: We have been working on the idea of an eco-village for some time, and if we can find a way to make it work in the planning system, then I believe we have a model that people can get behind, because it will incorporate a fundamental need: that we start living in harmony with the planet, with more local food production and giving back more than we take, leaving a better planet for future generations.
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