Home is the place in which we create our lives, build our families and make our futures. For many Australians, one of the most significant challenges concerns their ability to afford or rent or purchase a home.
David Birds, Manager, Urban Policy and Lise Sperling, Senior Planner from the NSW Department of Planning’s Policy, Planning Systems and Reform Branch
(Courtesy of the Planning Institute of Australia)
A concept that is central to this article, and is commonly used by professionals working in this area, is that of “affordable housing”. Nonetheless, this term is interpreted differently. The NSW Government’s approach to affordable housing focuses on housing that can appropriately meet the needs of a household, and is within the household’s means to pay for it.
The definition of “affordable housing” adopted under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) concerns “housing for very low income households, low income households, or moderate income households.” This definition covers households with a gross income that is less than 120% of the median household income being for the time within the Sydney Statistical Division and the household pays not more than 30% of that gross income in rent.
These different groups encompass a wide range of persons and each may need a different form of assistance in order to help meet their housing needs.
In 2006, the ABS revealed a shortage of 71,000 dwellings for renters in the low-income household group in NSW and that one affordable and available dwelling existed for every 15 very low income households, with 185,000 households across NSW experiencing “housing stress”.
In February 2010, waiting lists for accommodation in NSW comprised of 47,413 people and more than 1,500 households waiting more than two years. Of a total 118,806 tentable dwellings, almost 7,000 were overcrowded and more than 12,300 were “under-utilised” often due to disrepair.
The NSW Government is responding to this by encouraging public and private investment in a mixture of well-located affordable rental and social housing stock to help meet these demands.
On 31 July 2009, State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing) 2009 (AHSEPP) was introduced. The AHSEPP aims to help address affordable housing needs in NSW. It provides a range of initiatives to encourage the development of new affordable rental housing to meet the varying needs including;
- Making two storey in-fill affordable rental housing, including townhouses, villas, and residential flat buildings, permissible in large parts of most residential zones providing up to 50% of the stock generated is dedicated for 10 years as affordable rental housing as managed by a community housing provider;
- Making secondary dwellings, commonly known as “granny flats”, permissible in all residential zones with the opportunity to gain approval through complying development provisions within 10 days;
- Providing incentives for new generation boarding house development including additional floor space ratio provisions and expanded permissibility enabling new self-contained boarding houses in all residential zones;
- Streamlined approvals by, or on behalf of the NSW Government for developments up to 20 housing units and small group homes, of up to 10 bedrooms; and
- Provisions concerning supportive accommodation, such as the Common Ground initiative, to assist sensitive tenant groups, with appropriate housing, services and facilities.
The AHSEPP has been instrumental in assisting with the delivery of the Federal Government’s Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan, which has provided $1.2 billion to deliver around 6,300 social housing homes in NSW, of which by 27 July 2010, 6,251 were under construction. The AHSEPP had been used to deliver 290 projects under the Plan, consisting of 3,180 dwellings, which progressed through the self-approval provisions in an average of 40 days (including 21 days notification).
The AHSEPP also aims to stimulate private sector involvement in the provision of affordable housing through floorspace and land permissibility incentives.
The take-up of the opportunities offered by the AHSEPP is being monitored by the Department of Planning with the assistance of Housing NSW. Throughout NSW, councils are collecting data on the AHSEPP for the Local Development Performance Monitoring Report. At the time of writing, this data for the year 2009/10 was due for submission and will assist in a review of the first year of operation of the AHSEPP.
It is acknowledged that the SEPP emerged in difficult economic conditions and the initial take up is expected to reflect these circumstances, although keen interest has been expressed with inquiries rising further in recent months. It is anticipated that data will continue to be gathered on the use of the SEPP over the coming months to help enable the effectiveness of the provisions to be reviewed and for other opportunities to help deliver different types of affordable housing to be considered.
Discussions with various stakeholders have already highlighted a number of potential issues for consideration in the review including the possibility of local development provisions tailored to local markets; opportunities for further streamlined development approvals utilising complying development; the production of more specific design guidance; the potential effectiveness of inclusionary zoning; and the need to explore means of engaging further with the expanding Community Housing Provider section.
The key objective of the review is to ensure innovative solutions for the effective ongoing delivery of affordable rental and social housing throughout NSW for the many different groups in different housing need.
The Department is interested in engaging with all stakeholders who are interested in helping deliver affordable housing throughout NSW, and who may have ideas that could contribute to future initiatives.
For more information visit the Affordable Rental Housing website by clicking here or call the Department of Planning on 9228 6333.
Read Elisa Sperling’s interview here with The Planning Boardroom in conjunction with the Ask the Experts interview series.
