A motion for Byron Shire Council to tell Landcom it was withdrawing support for the 57 Station Street affordable housing project was lost on Mayor Ndiaye’s casting vote at Council’s ordinary meeting on 17 September.
The tied result, and what emerged in open session around it, has led to the Mullumbimby Residents Association (MRA) pushing back its planned public meeting on affordable housing from Monday, 28 September to Monday, 19 October.
Councillors had found out that day that the Station Street project had been bundled with three other projects in a joint application to the Commonwealth’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) (see page 4).
Any replacement public car park or public toilet will be funded by ratepayers or via grants.
Community consultation
MRA convenor Dale Emerson had addressed Council during public access on the former Mullumbimby Hospital Site Project Charter, asking that it be adopted with three conditions: that Council follow state government guidance on sequencing, honour its June resolution for a community advisory body, and say who makes the key decisions.
That guidance from the Office of Local Government’s February guide to council-led affordable housing on operational land, which Homes NSW helped write, says in Table 7: Consult the community on the options; then present a preferred option to Council; then establish governance and finalise contracts; then develop the concept design with the community, including the number and mix of affordable units.
‘Consult, then contract,’ Mr Emerson told The Echo. ‘Our community supports truly affordable housing. What we are asking about is how the choices get made as to what and where. These are questions of sequence.’
Updates from councillors and staff
He said the extra three weeks would allow an accurate update rather than a rushed one, and give councillors and staff a better chance to attend.
The October meeting will ask those present whether the community should petition Council to adopt the guide’s process for every affordable housing project on community-owned operational land in the Shire, and to pass a resolution to that effect.
Council’s own 1,000 Voices report, released in June, found 53 per cent of more than 700 respondents saw a role for themselves in solving the Shire’s housing problem.
The meeting is at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club on Monday, 19 October, from 6pm to 8pm. Councillors, Council staff, NSW government agencies, state and federal parliamentarians and residents are invited, with 40 minutes set aside for questions.
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