Pittwater Life June 2022 Issue

Beaches housing target
hit by Granny Flat clause
News
Northern Beaches Council
and the NSW Government
are at loggerheads
over housing targets after
Council was found to have
fallen well short of its initial
five-year mandated requirement.
Data from the Department
of Planning and Environment
identified Northern
Beaches Council as one of 19
Local Government Areas that
failed to fulfil its 2016-2021
obligations under the Greater
Sydney Urban Development
Program.
A target of 3400 homes
was set for Northern Beaches
Council, yet only 2318 were
built.
However Mayor Michael
Regan maintains the Government’s
data is flawed as it did
not take into account other
types of housing and secondary
dwellings, including
‘granny flats’, seniors housing
developments and boarding
house rooms.
Cr Regan told Pittwater Life
that despite Council’s many
submissions on the matter, the
Department of Planning and
Environment was not willing,
and in some cases not able, to
count these developments as
‘homes’.
He said Council’s data
showed that in the period
2016-2021, 841 granny flats,
259 seniors living units and
268 boarding room houses
were completed on the Northern
Beaches – together with
the 2318 other completed
‘homes’ this equated to 3686
new dwellings, which met the
five-year-target.
“Many of the barriers to
housing targets are outside of
local government’s control,”
he said, adding: “We want
all people on the Northern
Beaches to be able to access
affordable housing and we
THEY DON’T COUNT:
Granny Flats.
are supportive of some housing
growth to help achieve
this, but there needs to be
appropriate infrastructure in
place to support this growth,
including public transport,
schools, open space and
hospitals.”
The State Government asked
Northern Beaches Council
to prepare a Local Housing
Strategy to develop housing
targets for 2021-2026, and
2026-2036. Council adopted
its Local Housing Strategy
in April 2021, following two
years of development and
community consultation.
The Strategy establishes
targets of 3,582 new dwellings
for the 2021-2026 period, and
8,949 dwellings for the 2026-
2036 period.
Council’s Strategy anticipates
that these targets can be
readily achieved through the
development of land already
zoned for growth, together
with an anticipated 4360 new
dwellings created in the new
Frenchs Forest centre / hospital
precinct and through planning
for other centres already
underway.
Cr Regan said key barriers
to achieving housing targets
included inadequate provision
of infrastructure on the
Northern Beaches to support
growth.
Council maintains new
housing should be built within
walking distance of centres
where services are accessible
and should not be built in
areas subject to hazards such
as bushfires and floods
Also, the provision of social
and affordable housing was
a key issue – it’s estimated
there is currently a shortfall
of more than 8000 social and
affordable housing dwellings
on the Northern Beaches and
that this is set to increase by
an additional 2000 dwellings
by 2036.
“Council has set a target for
itself to provide for the additional
2000 dwelling shortfall
however the State and Federal
governments need to address
existing shortages,” Cr Regan
said.
“Any targets for housing
should not simply focus on
supply of ‘market’ housing as
this has been shown not to
meaningfully improve affordability.”
Council believes it is not
apparent that the effect of
the pandemic on population
growth has been taken into
account in the housing targets
set by the state government.
“Council’s housing consultants
anticipate that population
growth will have slowed significantly
during the pandemic,
reducing the demand for
housing in the short-medium
term,” Cr Regan said.
“This cannot be confirmed
until population projections
by the state government are
updated later this year.”
– Nigel Wall
8 JUNE 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991