Media Release: GREENS NEGOTIATE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY MOTION ON NORTHERN BEACHES

Greens Councillor Kristyn Glanville has successfully progressed Council action on housing affordability, negotiating with Councillors to achieve unanimous and bipartisan support for a motion on local housing affordability.

"With 14,000 households on the Northern Beaches in rental or mortgage stress, and local businesses and services struggling to find key workers due to the cost of local housing, there is a pressing social and economic need to ensure that we are tackling this serious issue" said Councillor Glanville, "It's becoming impossible for critical workers including teachers and day care educators to afford to live in the area despite their valuable role, and so many young people and families are being priced out of the area they've grown up and where their whole support system is".

The successful motion recognised the lack of social and affordable housing on the Northern Beaches, and will see Council investigating further opportunities for more social and affordable housing locally, including exploring the potential to redevelop underutilised sites owned by Council, and changes to Council's planning policies to build more social and affordable housing through development contributions and zoning.

The motion also recognised the need to explore opportunities for more affordable forms of private dwelling, such as "missing middle" style housing such as townhomes and dual occupancies. "Council has a critical role in ensuring that we're finding pragmatic and sustainable solutions to the housing crisis" said Cr Glanville, emphasising "Housing affordability is often framed from the perspective of the needs of investors or developers, but Council and all levels of government have to deliver on the triple bottom line of being ambitious to find solutions that deliver on the environment, community, and economy."

The motion also recognised the role of Short Term Rental Accomodation (STRAs) such as AirBNBs, and other vacant properties, with Census data revealing that approximately 7,647 dwellings on the Northern Beaches are unoccupied, as properties being used for short term accomodation or lying vacant, are taking housing stock away from the rental market. The Council will be considering options to encourage these properties to enter onto the rental market, to alleviate housing shortages.

Cr Glanville has been working with local grassroots advocates calling for housing affordability on the Northern Beaches to be addressed. The community led action group will shortly be launching a petition and is hoping for bi-partisan support.

The recent motion follows Cr Glanville applying her background as a planning and environment lawyer to achieve unanimous support for her motion to increase Council's action on building and development compliance, including calls to reform the private certification system to achieve better community outcomes.