By Tessa Mapstone
It’s official – Noosa and the Sunshine Coast have the least affordable housing market of all of Australia’s major cities.
The National Cities Performance Framework Dashboard, launched by the Federal Government in December, compared 22 cities, from Sydney and Melbourne, to Ballarat and Townsville.
The data revealed the Sunshine Coast and Noosa region had the seventh-highest house prices, but median household income was in the lowest six.
One-fifth of households were in the lowest-income bracket, but the region was near the bottom of the pile for public and community housing.
14.3 per cent of households were under rent stress and 6.38 per cent of households faced mortgage stress.
The report also revealed the region was among the top-four when it came to population growth.
Noosa mayor Tony Wellington said despite the its limited ability to create affordable housing, the council was looking at ways to encourage smaller, more affordable homes in and around Noosa’s urban centres, through collaboration and planning-scheme amendments.
“First, we are working with stakeholders and agencies,” Cr Wellington said.
“Council has also established the Noosa Community Partnership Roundtable, which includes representatives of Noosa Council, State and Federal governments and non-government agencies.
“Its role, born out of Noosa’s Social Strategy, is to identify and tackle social issues facing Noosa Shire.
“This year, the panel played a fundamental role in sourcing housing for more than 70 people living rough at Johns Landing.
“In 2018, this panel will be taking a broader look at housing and affordability issues across the shire.”
The other approach to addressing the housing affordability crisis, Cr Wellington said, was through the planning scheme.
“Noosa’s current planning scheme supports shop-top housing and the provision of secondary dwellings or ‘granny flats’ on residential blocks,” he said.
“Council is also considering amendments to the existing planning scheme to allow granny flats to include a second bedroom, which may make them a more appealing and flexible option for landowners.
“There will be community consultation about these proposed changes in the first quarter of 2018.”
Providing the community with a greater choice of housing – particularly smaller, more affordable dwellings – was also a key focus in the development of the new planning scheme, Cr Welington said.
“Ways in which we may be able to encourage a greater supply of smaller housing include applying incentives for developers to build a higher number of smaller units rather than large luxury duplexes; and reviewing whether there are any additional opportunities for higher density housing in, or close to, activity centres such as Noosa Junction,” he said.
