On 30 September, Inner West Council passed stage 1 of its revised local environment plan to much fanfare. With a variety of concerns and recommendations expressed by the local community, civil society and industry through submissions and the media, the proposed LEP quickly became one of the most anticipated and talked about planning instruments in recent memory.

Shelter NSW initially expressed concern at the conservative affordable housing contribution rates and the limitation on land use flexibility investigations to faith-held land, as well as the intent to deliver more social housing without a stated method to do so.
 

Our full submission is accessible on Shelter NSW website.

In its final form, the Inner West LEP represents a departure from the ‘supply at all costs’ approach that pervades current housing policy. But whether it finds the necessary ambition to meaningfully address affordability challenges is still yet to be seen.

One of the headline announcements of this LEP is the conversion of five council-owned carparks into approximately 341 social housing dwellings, which Shelter NSW commends. While social housing falls primarily into state government remit, Inner West Council deserves praise for identifying underutilised council land and earmarking it for social housing, demonstrating the need to pull all levers available to deliver more social housing. This move sets out a positive example for other LGAs to follow, and we hope that the Inner West Council will continue to review its land holdings and make similar decisions for other sites.

Council’s commitment to enter into a compact with NSW Government to deliver 1000 new social housing dwellings is also commendable. However, this pledge is somewhat undermined by the association of the ‘WestConnex Dive Site’ in Annandale with this target. From Shelter NSW’s perspective, ‘essential worker housing’ with a discount to market rent and time-limited to 15 years is still short of the ‘gold standard’ of perpetuity  and the site’s proposed ‘capital A’ affordable housing does not represent a serious commitment to social and affordable housing delivery.

On the topic of underutilised land, Council has granted land use exemptions to faith-based organisations delivering 30% or more ‘affordable housing’ in-perpetuity on their land. While the creativity of Council in delivering housing on underutilised land cannot be faulted, this is a clause we will be watching carefully. Its restriction solely to religious organisations due to perceived benevolence may needlessly limit a scheme that could be effectively used by other stakeholders such as charities and not-for-profit organisations, as well as government itself. However, the greater concerns surrounding the potential misinterpretation of this clause, as noted in Shelter’s submission, remain largely unaddressed.We will monitor this to ensure it remains a relevant consideration.

Finally, Council has decided to undertake further investigations into affordable housing contribution rates. After community pressure to investigate rates greater than the proposed 2-5%, Council has commissioned Atlas Economics to undertake a feasibility study for higher contribution rates across the Inner West.

The study noted that current market conditions would render higher contribution rates not feasible and subsequently council is now seeking to adopt the ‘City of Sydney’ approach. That is, a flat rate on all residential land complemented by another rate on the uplift. As such, a 2-3% base contribution rate will apply to residential lands upzoned as part of Stage 1 of this LEP. For Stage 2, a 1% rate on commercial lands will be investigated as well as a 20% contribution rate on Stage 2 uplift. This is a promising step in the right direction; however, concerns remain about the creation of a needlessly tiered system of contributions, depending on whether the land was investigated/upzoned in Stage 1 or Stage 2.

All in all, this plan represents a positive step, though there is definitely room for improvement. We hope that the Stage 2 investigations prove to be more ambitious and can incorporate other concerns such as mandating higher levels of accessibility for new dwellings.

On 30 September, Inner West Council passed stage 1 of its revised local environment plan to much fanfare. With a variety of concerns and recommendations expressed by the local community, civil society and industry through submissions and the media, the proposed LEP quickly became one of the most anticipated and talked about planning instruments in recent memory.

Shelter NSW initially expressed concern at the conservative affordable housing contribution rates and the limitation on land use flexibility investigations to faith-held land, as well as the intent to deliver more social housing without a stated method to do so.
 

Our full submission is accessible on Shelter NSW website.

In its final form, the Inner West LEP represents a departure from the ‘supply at all costs’ approach that pervades current housing policy. But whether it finds the necessary ambition to meaningfully address affordability challenges is still yet to be seen.

One of the headline announcements of this LEP is the conversion of five council-owned carparks into approximately 341 social housing dwellings, which Shelter NSW commends. While social housing falls primarily into state government remit, Inner West Council deserves praise for identifying underutilised council land and earmarking it for social housing, demonstrating the need to pull all levers available to deliver more social housing. This move sets out a positive example for other LGAs to follow, and we hope that the Inner West Council will continue to review its land holdings and make similar decisions for other sites.

Council’s commitment to enter into a compact with NSW Government to deliver 1000 new social housing dwellings is also commendable. However, this pledge is somewhat undermined by the association of the ‘WestConnex Dive Site’ in Annandale with this target. From Shelter NSW’s perspective, ‘essential worker housing’ with a discount to market rent and time-limited to 15 years is still short of the ‘gold standard’ of perpetuity  and the site’s proposed ‘capital A’ affordable housing does not represent a serious commitment to social and affordable housing delivery.

On the topic of underutilised land, Council has granted land use exemptions to faith-based organisations delivering 30% or more ‘affordable housing’ in-perpetuity on their land. While the creativity of Council in delivering housing on underutilised land cannot be faulted, this is a clause we will be watching carefully. Its restriction solely to religious organisations due to perceived benevolence may needlessly limit a scheme that could be effectively used by other stakeholders such as charities and not-for-profit organisations, as well as government itself. However, the greater concerns surrounding the potential misinterpretation of this clause, as noted in Shelter’s submission, remain largely unaddressed.We will monitor this to ensure it remains a relevant consideration.

Finally, Council has decided to undertake further investigations into affordable housing contribution rates. After community pressure to investigate rates greater than the proposed 2-5%, Council has commissioned Atlas Economics to undertake a feasibility study for higher contribution rates across the Inner West.

The study noted that current market conditions would render higher contribution rates not feasible and subsequently council is now seeking to adopt the ‘City of Sydney’ approach. That is, a flat rate on all residential land complemented by another rate on the uplift. As such, a 2-3% base contribution rate will apply to residential lands upzoned as part of Stage 1 of this LEP. For Stage 2, a 1% rate on commercial lands will be investigated as well as a 20% contribution rate on Stage 2 uplift. This is a promising step in the right direction; however, concerns remain about the creation of a needlessly tiered system of contributions, depending on whether the land was investigated/upzoned in Stage 1 or Stage 2.

All in all, this plan represents a positive step, though there is definitely room for improvement. We hope that the Stage 2 investigations prove to be more ambitious and can incorporate other concerns such as mandating higher levels of accessibility for new dwellings.