Council plans partnerships to combat shortage of housing

An affordable housing plan could see council land and vacant buildings used for residential development in Townsville.

Townsville City Council is developing an Affordable Housing Action Plan with Mayor Jenny Hill saying rapid solutions are needed to support growth and jobs in the city.

Cr Hill’s team endorsed the plan when it was put to the council’s recent September meeting, although two independent councillors voted against the proposals.

The plan has four key aims: to offer council-owned land for development; to partner with governments and private industry to deliver affordable housing; to investigate converting vacant office buildings to residential use and; to promote development with incentives and by advocating to reduce insurance costs.

Cr Hill stressed the plan was to deliver affordable housing for rental to low and middle income earners, not social housing, and that it was about providing land for development and “not necessarily” significant cash for development.

“The city’s rental vacancy rate is at 0.5 per cent which is the lowest vacancy rate experienced in the last decade,” Cr Hill said.

Mayor Jenny Hill

“More than 7000 Townsville households or 10 per cent of the housing market are experiencing housing stress.

“Our region is experiencing economic growth but without appropriate housing levels it may deter further investment here. Rapid solutions for housing to support the growth and retention of jobs in Townsville are vital.”

Planning and Development Committee chair Cr Mark Molachino said more affordable housing was needed in Townsville to help attract and retain essential workers.

“Affordable housing is open to a broader range of household incomes than social housing. This is about helping to attract and retain critical workers like police officers, nurses and childcare workers to our city,” Cr Molachino said.

“We would look at areas like North Rail Yards as a prime location for an affordable housing development. We will also work with the community to help identify other growth areas across the city to support further affordable housing developments.”

Cr Sue Blom was “sympathetic” to the cause but said she could not support new projects until other community issues needing fixing were funded.

Cr Fran O’Callaghan said potential spending on North Yards “seriously concerns me”, while she believed the aim to convert office buildings was a “knee jerk reaction”.

For more information go to the council’s website.

Originally published as Council plans partnerships to combat shortage of housing