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Council addresses housing affordability issuesBass Coast Shire Council has adopted an Affordable Housing Strategy for the municipality - one of the first to be prepared within Australia. By Bass Coast Shire Council - 6th October 2005 - Back to News Council’s Social Planner, Jeanette Draper, says the Strategy aims to ensure the municipality’s affordable housing needs are met now and into the future.
"Council wants to ensure there will always be accessible, available, appropriate and affordable housing in the Shire.
"Particularly if we are to encourage young families to remain in our communities and enter into home ownership," she said.
Ms Draper said the plan was developed with a great deal of consultation with the general community, a community reference group, housing providers, real estate agents and developers.
"The demand for more affordable housing has significantly increased over the past five years.
"This increase is primarily due to the Shire’s rapid population growth and rise in median house prices.
"As a result Council received a $70,000 grant from the Department of Human Services to develop the Affordable Housing Strategy," advised Ms Draper.
The Strategy addresses the following key challenges and issues:
- Ensuring growth in and demand for holiday homes and retirement housing does not decrease access to affordable housing;
- Continuing to provide affordable housing to a diverse range of groups;
- Ensuring the provision of affordable, adequate and appropriate housing;
- Increasing the availability of social houses for low income householders;
- Developing a range of housing types to meet the needs of emerging demographics (i.e. older single people and single-parent families);
- Ensuring the tourist industry does not have a negative impact on permanent residents seeking affordable housing; and
- Promoting housing affordability through Council planning strategies.
Ms Draper said reference groups would meet in November to discuss and prioritise the actions outlined in the Plan.
"These will be achieved in partnership with the Victorian Government and other agencies," she said.
Copies of Council’s Affordable Housing Strategy can be viewed at any of Council’s Customer Service Centres and on Council’s website www.basscoast.vic.gov.au. For further information please phone Jeanette Draper on (03) 5671 2211 or (03) 5951 3311 or e-mail j.draper@basscoast.vic.gov.au.
Interesting Facts
- The 2004 median house price in Bass Coast Shire was $223,000, up from $99,500 in 2000.
- Social housing in Bass Coast is limited and primarily focussed towards the elderly.
- Non-conventional forms of housing for single adults, such as rooming houses, private hotels and special residential services currently do not exist in Bass Coast Shire.
- The threshold income required to buy a median priced house in Bass Coast was $55,750 in 2004 when the average taxable income in Bass Coast was $31,554.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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