Clarence Valley Local Housing Strategy and Affordable Housing Policy

Published on 10 November 2023

Draft Affordable Housing Policy - to be considered by Council at their meeting to be held 19 December 2024

The draft Affordable Housing Policy will be considered for adoption by Council at their meeting to be held on Thursday 19 December 2024. The draft Policy was publicly exhibited along with the initial draft Local Housing Strategy from Friday 27 October to Friday 22 December 2023. The submissions received regarding the Policy primarily called for the Policy to mandate greater provision of affordable housing through development consent, along with other suggestions regarding affordable housing contributions. The current legislation no longer permits this approach outside of an adopted Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme. Consequently, the submissions received did not change the recommended policy.

Final Local Housing Strategy - Council adopted the Local Housing Strategy at their meeting held 21 November 2024

Council adopted the Local Housing Strategy (item 7.23) at their meeting held Thursday 21 November 2024, subject to the inclusion of the Annexure 4 Planning Intervention for Palmers Island.

The adopted Local Housing Strategy will be referred to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for final review and endorsement. The Local Housing Strategy once enforced will be made available on Council's website and NSW Planning Portal Local Housing Strategies Tracker.

BACKGROUND

Amended Draft Local Housing Strategy - re-exhibited Friday 9 August to Monday 23 September 2024

The public exhibition of the amended draft Local Housing Strategy (LHS) closed on Monday 23 September 2024. The submissions were carefully considered and further amendments were made to the LHS in response to community and agency feedback, including consideration of Council's Coastal Management Program (Open Coast) and the removal of the Iluka Planning Intervention. The final LHS was reported to Council at their meeting held 21 November 2024.

Draft Local Housing Strategy - exhibited Friday 27 October to Friday 22 December 2023

Council received numerous submissions to the Draft Local Housing Strategy (LHS) and Draft Affordable Housing Policy during the exhibition period in October to December 2023. Council thanks all of those who took the time to carefully consider the documents and write a constructive submission.

The submissions have been carefully considered and the Draft LHS has been amended in response. The amended Draft LHS was endorsed for re-exhibition by Council on 23 July 2024.

The key changes made are:

• Removing the proposed building height increase in the intervention areas in Yamba CBD, Yamba Hill and in Iluka Village.
• The original draft LHS proposed to prohibit dwelling houses in the R3 zone, however this has now been removed.
• Action 3.4 “Investigate opportunities for affordable housing on Council-owned land delivered through public private partnerships using a competitive tender process” has been updated to include four sites of Council owned land for further investigation for affordable housing opportunities.
• Inclusion of trigger points to improve clarity around when these changes may progress.
• Inclusion of the James Creek Investigation Area as a planning intervention to align with the North Coast Regional Plan 2041.
• Inclusion of Palmers Island Rural Residential land as a planning intervention.
• An explanation on the modelling methodology used to determine the theoretical and additional dwelling capacity calculations, at Annexure 2.
• Other changes were also made to make the document easier to understand and to provide greater clarity on the next steps required to implement the LHS.

No changes are proposed to Draft Affordable Housing Policy. While we did receive submissions relating to the policy, the content of the submissions relate largely to further work that must be done after the policy is adopted.

The draft strategy has been informed by the latest information on population growth and an audit of supply and demand and modelling of future expected demand for different types of housing. There are a range of proposed actions to better meet community expectations and housing needs into the future. These include updates to Council’s planning framework (Local Environmental Plan and Development Control Plan), opportunities to work with social housing providers and developers to provide more affordable housing, including for key workers, and actions to encourage more diverse housing types. The strategy is underpinned by Council's new flood model, consideration of natural hazards including impacts from climate change and protection of the environment.

The draft LHS guides future decision-making about where new houses should be built and the types of housing our community needs. The planning interventions identify opportunities to amend local planning controls to create capacity for a greater diversity of housing types, close to existing infrastructure and services. The interventions will also assist Council in meeting the North Coast Regional Plan 2041 priority for housing to be delivered as 40% multi-dwellings / small lot housing.

The LHS was developed in collaboration with local industry representatives, government agencies, community housing providers and other stakeholders that are involved with housing delivery in the Clarence Valley.

NSW councils are required to prepare Local Housing Strategies in accordance with Department of Planning and Environment’s Local Housing Strategy Guideline 2018 and it has been prepared to give effect to Action 4.4 of the Clarence Valley Local Strategic Planning Statement. This project is proudly funded by the NSW Government.

SUBMISSIONS REGARDING THE LOCAL HOUSING STRATEGY HAVE NOW CLOSED.

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