Roundtable workshops solutions to Illawarra's housing crisis

The Illawarra's population is expected to grow by some 63,000 people by 2041 but already many residents are finding it hard to put a roof over their heads, particularly those on low incomes, while housing is also needed for the workers who will deliver the region's major infrastructure projects.

On Tuesday representatives from government, the University of Wollongong, developers, the construction industry, aged care and others came together for a roundtable hosted by Regional Development Australia Illawarra, which invited attendees to think outside the box in formulating solution to the crisis.

Read more: Unlock the land: Wollongong council under fire for housing shortage

RDA Illawarra policy manager Alex Spillett said there was plenty of opportunity in the region - new industries were emerging and mature ones were changing, such as the hydrogen economy, renewable energy and the visitor economy - but people were needed to make them happen.

Mr Spillett outlined numerous infrastructure projects in the pipeline for the Illawarra over the next 20 years, such as the Mount Ousley interchange, the new Shellharbour Hospital and offshore wind energy.

In 2024, he said, another 3000 people would be needed just to build these projects and this figure would hover around the 2000 to 2500 mark over the next two decades.

But Mr Spillett said high prices and low availability of housing acted as deterrents to people moving into the Illawarra, which was the second-most expensive place to live in NSW after Sydney.

"We're not getting the proportion of internal migration that those regions [Hunter and Far South Coast] are getting," Mr Spillett said.

While house prices were down 6 per cent on the last quarter, Mr Spillett said, they were still 8 per cent higher than they were a year ago and higher interest rates added $13,500 more to the loan repayments on a median priced property.

Meanwhile, the median rent in the Illawarra is now higher than that of Greater Sydney and has increased 10 per cent in one year.

Read more: Property Council adds to call for affordable housing in Illawarra

Mr Spillett said the rental vacancy rate was below 1 per cent, when to be viable it needed to be about 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, he said 14 per cent of households were in mortgage stress - when over 30 per cent of income went to housing payments - while 38 per cent of renters were experiencing rental stress.

"We know that the problem has been getting worse, we know the problem is going to continue getting worse," Housing Trust CEO and chair of Community Housing Industry Association NSW Michele Adair said.

Ms Adair said rates of family and domestic violence and mental illness go "through the roof" while the impacts of generational disadvantage continued to multiply with housing stress.

She said Census data showed the number of Illawarra households in housing stress had grown to about 23,000, and currently there were no rental homes affordable and available for anyone receiving any Centrelink assistance.

Read more: New figures show how many public housing dwellings are planned for the Illawarra

Research released last week from the Everybody's Home campaign found Wollongong recorded the largest increase in weekly rent compared to any other regional local government area in the state, with the median rent jumping $70 in one year.

Simply building more homes was not the answer to the crisis, Ms Adair said - the solution could only work when more social and affordable housing was secured.

She said another 3500 social housing homes were needed in the region within the next 20 years.

Ms Adair said governments continued to fail the community and called on them, especially local councils, to address the regulatory processes that hindered the delivery of new housing supply.

She told the Mercury there were three actions she wanted to see: affordable housing targets set by local government area; amendments to development control plans and local environmental plans to deliver this housing; and measures to incentivise this delivery.

Ms Adair said the Housing Trust received funding from Wollongong City Council a couple of years ago to provide affordable housing for women, but had been waiting since March for development application approval for its planned complex in Dapto.

As it stood, she said, she did not know when women in need would be able to move in.

Having learnt about the current housing pressures facing the Illawarra, the roundtable participants were tasked with coming up with immediate, short-term and long-term actions to alleviate the situation.

Immediate actions brainstormed included using cruise ships as temporary accommodation for workers on specific projects; having employers and businesses supply portable housing for workers; and challenging the unconscious bias around social housing tenants.

Read more: This is how much Wollongong rents have gone up in a year

Transforming existing buildings into housing was among the short-term measures suggested, as was resourcing councils to fast-track development applications and reducing the parking space Wollongong City Council required for new developments.

It was proposed that in the long term, commercial rather than residential rates could be applied to Airbnb properties, setting firm targets for the delivery of affordable housing in each local government area, and supporting the research and development of affordable housing manufacturing.

Attendees also heard from Adaptable Dwellings chief executive officer Travis Doherty, whose company manufactures prefabricated and portable homes.

Mr Doherty said these were built with sustainable materials and designed to be fully self-sufficient and usable off-grid.

RDA Illawarra chief executive officer Debra Murphy said the outcomes of the roundtable would inform the organisation's advocacy work.

She also hoped some of the decision-makers in the room would take those suggestions forward.

Ms Murphy said there was no silver bullet to the housing crisis.

But she is optimistic that over the next 12 months, a "significant can-do attitude" will come to the fore.

"Housing is a fundamental thing that is changing the shape of what we can and can't do," Ms Murphy said.

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