The SMDA strategy has dropped
early RWA references to home ownership and concentrates exclusively on rental
housing within the framework of the existing NSW Affordable Housing Guidelines.
Similar to the way City West runs housing from Pyrmont Waterloo contributions
to Council, the SMDA propose its affordable housing be owned and managed by an
existing community housing provider. It has started an expression of interest
process to select a provider.
The strategy expects the SMDA to
have $86m in contributions by 2036 to provide around 182 affordable housing
units in addition to the 62 planned by the Aboriginal Housing Company and the
700 proposed in BEP2. The SMDA draft proposes placing a levy on all private
developments in the BEP2 area adding this to the $32m it receives from the CUB
site as part of the RWA Legislation and $35.4m expected from the development of
BEP1 sites. It does not indicate how the 700 proposed in BEP2 will be funded.
The SMDA Strategy foreshadows a
review of the 2006 contributions plan increasing the number of units by
reducing average unit sizes from 100sq.m to 80-85sq.m. The SMDA Strategy
conservatively estimates by 2036 there will be an increase of 7930 dwellings in
Redfern, Waterloo, Eveleigh and Darlington of which 5500 will be from BEP1 and
2. This is expected to result in a population increase of over 15,000 residents
above the 2006 population.
What is Affordable Housing?
Affordable housing is defined in
2011-12 as housing that meets the needs of households on very low income
(<$34,400), low income (<$55,000) or moderate income (<$82,500) but
which does not consume more that 30% of net household income so households are able
to meet other basic living costs. Public housing is restricted to very low and
low incomes with vacant housing allocated to those with the greatest need. Affordable
housing has a required mix. The SMDA strategy will give priority to lower
income workers or households, indigenous households, people who are homeless or
at risk of homelessness and young families or workers on low incomes (but
specifically not student housing).
(Also see the SSH companion piece on Affordable Housing at North Eveleigh at Affordable Housing in North Eveleigh by 2015)
More details on North Eveleigh
and Affordable Housing Strategy Exhibitions can be found at www.smda.nsw.gov.au
Source: The South Sydney Herald May 2012 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au