New houses in West Dapto are being snapped up more quickly than anywhere else in Australia, according to Wollongong councillors, but a massive funding shortfall for vital infrastructure is stopping the council from rezoning land to build more homes.
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This week, councillors highlighted the growing housing affordability crisis facing Illawarra residents, voting to lobby the NSW Government to take action to stop the “unacceptable shortage” .
Labor councillor and planning staffer Ann Martin led the charge with a seven-step plan, which she said would help the council to play its part.
Cr Martin told the council that real estate figures showed West Dapto has the “fastest take-up in any city in the country for new housing” but that the council remained “stuck in a holding pattern” due to state government inaction.
The council has estimated basic infrastructure – like roads, bridges and stormwater networks – for the area will cost more than $1.1 billion over the next 50 years.
However, with a government-imposed cap of $30,000 on how much the council can charge developers to unlock each block of land, the council needs to find (from either the government or by putting further costs on developers) an extra $428 million.
Cr Martin urged other councillors to send a delegation to NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts in an effort to speed up the development of a funding program for infrastructure in West Dapto, as she said any delays would add to the cost of building homes and reduced affordability over time.
The delegation – including councillors, staff and Illawarra parliamentary secretary Gareth Ward – will also urge the state to introduce its Affordable Housing policy in Wollongong. Only available in Sydney at present, SEPP 70 allows councils to compel developers to build affordable homes.
Supporting Cr Martin’s motion, Labor councillor and Dapto resident Chris Connor highlighted that, without the state’s funding, the West Dapto area would l be left without parks, some stormwater assets, community centres and even a crucial access bridge to the M1 Freeway.
All but one councillor – George Takacs – supported Cr Martin’s motion, voting also to expedite a rezoning of land in Marshall Mount/Yallah once the NSW Government committed funds.
Liberal councillor Bede Crasnich – the youngest of 13 councillors – said people his age were facing the idea that it would be impossible to buy a home.
“Anything that local, state and federal governments can do to assist people to get into the housing market is good,” he said.
“I have faith in the NSW government and Premier that housing affordability will be something she tackles in her term. I hope she does, because being 30 year old, this is directly affecting me and my friends at the moment.”
West Dapto ‘a tiramisu of stupidity’
One Wollongong councillor has warned that developing more land in the West Dapto area could lead to the council being given its just desserts.
Unlike his colleagues Greens councillor George Takacs did not support the push to more quickly develop West Dapto, labelling it “a tiramisu of stupidity”.
Cr Takacs said the costs of “extensive development” on floodplains and farmland would put unfair infrastructure costs on future residents across the city, and also said he believed it should be maintained as agricultural land.
“I look here at West Dapto and I see this as being bad planning on three counts, I think of it as a veritable tiramisu of stupidity,” he said.
“It’s layer after toxic layer of darkness, and I think we should get well away from it and encourage the state government to come down here and talk to us and explain why this has to happen.”
He said he believed “infill” development, by increasing density in existing suburbs, would be a better way to improve access to housing in the Illawarra.
Independent councillor Greg Petty also raised concerns with the development push, saying the housing release area “could bankrupt the council”.