After Council’s compliance team threatened to demolish the homes of a small Main Arm multiple occupancy (MO) community, councillors voted unanimously last Thursday to review their enforcement policy in the coming months.
The policy expired last year and ‘has not been substantively updated since 2011’.
Greens Cr Elia Hauge’s motion calls for a closed door workshop with staff to review the enforcement policy, including ‘appropriate community engagement’ compliance priorities, and STRA compliance.
Change of direction
It’s a welcome change of direction for residents – last week, Mayor Sarah Ndiaye (Greens) defended Council’s compliance team, and said those Main Arm MO residents will be provided ‘time to either bring properties into compliance or, as a last resort, find alternative accommodation’.
In an email to Cr Ndiaye, Main Arm MO resident, Charles Boyle, outlined the history and impact that the current policy is having on residents.
He said, ‘The Multiple Occupancy (MO) system was designed to provide low-cost housing, and the demand for this has never been higher – in fact Byron Shire is experiencing an acute and increasing housing crisis, especially for those on lower incomes. I suggest we urgently seek a way forward to reduce hostility and resentment and to achieve co-operative compliance. It is time for all interested parties to work together through discussion and mutual co-operation to revise the MO system to meet the contemporary needs of Council, residents and the environment’.
In a media release on Saturday, Cr Hauge acknowledged the ‘severe housing crises’, and said, ‘The review must recognise the reality that many residents have limited housing options. Evicting residents or issuing demolition orders must be a last resort only, when there is no pathway to make a dwelling safe for habitation’.
‘While we must uphold planning regulations and safety standards, we also need a balanced and compassionate approach that considers the dire circumstances many of our residents are facing’.
Cr Hauge said, ‘“Compassion” or “sensitivity” do not appear anywhere in the current policy, which also makes no reference to Byron Shire Council’s 2022 Unauthorised Dwellings Guideline.
‘The focus should be on making dwellings safe, not removing homes that have been part of our community for decades.”
Greens Mayor Sarah Ndiaye added, ‘This policy review gives us an opportunity to develop a framework that better reflects our community values while ensuring safety remains paramount. We need to work together – Council, staff, and community – to address these complex challenges with compassion and practicality’.
Rebranded
In related news, Council compliance staff have rebranded the department.
In a report to Council at last Thursday’s meeting, Manager Public and Environmental Services, Sarah Nagel, said the team name was changed from ‘Enforcement’ to ‘Compliance Services’ and all vehicles were re-stickered. The reason riveted was ‘to reflect its community focus and approach of the team’.
‘Officers were retitled from Parking Enforcement Officers, Animal Enforcement Officers and Community Enforcement Officers to Parking Officers, Companion Animal Officers and Compliance Officers’.
She said, ‘The vast majority of the team’s work [in the last reporting period] was dominated by vehicle, illegal works, animals and camping.
There were 2,821 camping-related penalty infringement notices issued, she said, ‘which was over double that of the 2023 year, and may be the cause of the significantly reduced number of complaints received during the period.’
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
