Shelter NSW engagement in regional housing advocacy continues with our recent submission on Shoalhaven City Council’s draft Affordable Housing Strategy. The Shoalhaven LGA is featured in our Regional Housing Need Report as an LGA of interest. It’s a large jurisdiction by area and population, with a huge social housing waitlist, and many renter households in dire straits competing with dwelling stock conversions to the whole-home Airbnb market.
 

Aerial view of Berry, in the Shoalhaven LGA (https://www.shoalhaven.com/towns/)

There are sensible initiatives in the draft Strategy that we support, including the creation of an Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme. As always, we have offered some recommendations to Council to make sure its Strategy is bold, clear, and gets to the crux of issues impinging on housing affordability, availability, and diversity in the LGA.

You can read our submission here and follow the progress of the draft Strategy from Council’s 12 August meeting here.