models of sustainable and affordable housing for local government

98 Pages·2010·0.88 MB·English

FINAL REPORT 2008
MODELS OF SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE
HOUSING FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Contents

Executive Summary 1
1. Introduction 5
2. Policy context 7
What is Affordable Housing? 7
Australia’s housing affordability problem 8
3. The role of local government 20
Local government and affordable housing 20
Local government and not-for-profit housing providers 21
Scope of practical interventions 21
4. Providing sustainable and affordable housing 24
Defining sustainability and affordability 24
Sustainability and affordability in housing 27
Evaluating sustainability performance 31
Sustainability and costs 33
5. Case studies 35
Rationale for selection of case studies 35
Case study 1. City of Port Phillip: Inkerman Oasis Development. High-level Council
involvement 37
Case study 2. Brisbane Housing Company Ltd: Kelvin Grove Projects. Revamped arm’s
length model 47
Case study 3. Willoughby Council, Community Housing Ltd and the Association to
Resource Cooperative Housing: Barton Rd, Artarmon. Debt-equity model 55
Case studies – efficacy and context 60
6. Parramatta feasibility analysis 63
Site selection 63
Nominated site: 23 Elizabeth St Granville 63
Feasibility study findings 67
Summary 57
7. Conclusion: application of findings in Parramatta 74
Appendix 1. Comparison between affordable homeownership
mechanisms in the United States 80
Appendix 2. Management Agreement (the Agreement) for properties
owned by the City of Port Phillip(Council) and managed by Port
Phillip Housing Association Inc. (PPHA) 81
Appendix 3. Inkerman Oasis Development – List of Awards 82
Appendix 4. Excerpt from Kelvin Grove Urban Village Design
Guidelines 83
Appendix 5. Site schematics for 23 Elizabeth St, Granville 84
1. Ground floor 84
2. First floor 85
3. Second floor 86
Bibliography 87
Box

Box 1. Subsidy leakage in dual mortgages 33

Tables

Table 1. Local government role in provision of affordable housing by intensity/riskError! Bookmark not defined.
Table 2. Absolute and relative costs of sustainable design features 34
Table 3. Australian not-for-profit Affordable Housing Providers 36
Table 4. BHC Apartments at Kelvin Grove Urban Village 48
Table 5. Relative benefits/risks of Parramatta sites available for affordable housing 64
Table 6. Cost assumptions for the Elizabeth St site 68
Table 7. Sales prices, larger dwellings 71
Table 8. Detailed financial modelling - two Elizabeth St scenarios 72
Table 9. Strategy sustainability 74
Abbreviations

AHURI Australia Housing and Urban Research Institute
ARCH Association to Resource Cooperative Housing
BHC Brisbane Housing Company
CAH Centre of Affordable Housing
CHL Community Housing Ltd
CPP City of Port Philip
LEP Local Environmental Plan
NRAS National Rental Affordability Scheme
PPHA Port Philip Housing Association
SEPP State Environmental Planning Policy

Authorship statement

This report was prepared by Dr Simon Emsley, Professor Peter Phibbs and Dr Louise Crabtree at
the Urban Research Centre, with input from Ms Louise Weber and Ms Megan Dephoff at
Parramatta City Council, Mr Hugo Moline at the Milkcrate UnLtd, and Mr Stewart Lawler,
Development Project Services Pty Ltd.
© Urban Research Centre 2008

Executive Summary

The gravity of Australia’s housing affordability problem has led to its recent acknowledgement as a
matter for urgent federal attention. The newly appointed Housing Minister of the incoming Labor
Government has noted that housing affordability, defined as a ratio of income to housing costs, is
currently at an all time low (Plibersek 2008). Figures cited by the Minister for the last quarter of 2007
show that the average home, costing four times the average wage in 1996, now costs seven times the
average wage. By international comparison, Australia’s housing affordability is ranked one of the
lowest in the world. The 2006 Census demonstrated an increasing picture of housing stress for
Parramatta households.

Whilst Local Governments in NSW have been involved in the provision of affordable housing (see
for example, Waverley, Randwick, Willoughby), many Local Governments have been concerned that
housing is a Federal and/or State Government issue. What is beginning to emerge in Australia is a
partnership approach to the provision of affordable housing supply. The most recent example of this
approach is the National Rental Assistance Scheme – under this scheme an annual subsidy of 6,000
from the Federal Government and 2,000 from the State Government to provide affordable rental
housing. The NSW Government has an Affordable Housing Innovation Fund which provides equity
funds for partnerships (including Local Government) who are increasing the supply of affordable
housing. The national Government is also sponsoring a $500 million, Housing Affordability Fund.

There are a number of major examples of successful intervention by Local Government in local
housing markets. These are reviewed in detail in Chapter 3. The most significant example is Port
Philip Council in Victoria, who have sponsored the supply of an additional 530 affordable dwelling
in Port Philip over a twenty year period. They have combined the commitment of a modest amount
of capital, an activist housing officer, a strong partnership model and a community committed to
the retention of affordable housing in a gentrifying area, with State Government funds to generate a
substantial portfolio of stock which is managed by a local housing association. They have adopted an
opportunistic approach to their supply strategy. Chapter 5 examines some particular local
government affordable housing case studies, including a recent development in Port Philip. The
Willoughby case study might have the most lessons for Parramatta.

A key feature of this project is the combination of affordable and sustainable housing. This issue is
examined in detail in Chapter 4. Despite the popular perception that sustainability is expensive,
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recent evidence suggests that many of those cost penalties have reduced. Developing a sustainable
development will significantly reduce the on-going costs for residents. In addition, the option of
using a co-operative strategy will also generate considerable sustainability benefits (see below).

Selection of a strategy of affordable housing intervention for Parramatta needs to take account of the
overarching policy mix in Council, the competition for development opportunities across a given
area and the potential for an intervention to be driven and adopted by the community over the long
term. Is the proposed intervention strategy in the interest of the community and will it continue to
find champions?

The record shows Parramatta City has a well-established and consistent orientation to affordable
housing, having commissioned a number of reports on affordable housing in recent years (Hill PDA
2001; Hall and Associates 2003) and produced a Draft Affordable Housing Strategy in 2003. It has
maintained a presence in the Affordable Housing Network, convened by Shelter NSW. It resumed
its work in this area in 2007 through its involvement in this project and through the co-presentation
with Marrickville Council of the symposium Living Cooperatively: Affordable and Sustainable Housing in
February 2008. The consistency of the Council’s interest in the issue indicates a significant depth of
concern about housing affordability in the community, upon which a sustainable program of
significant intensity can rely on for long-term support.
Validation for an intensive strategy of occasional intensive intervention for Parramatta may be found
in the ‘key worker’ case for providing affordable housing to selected elements of the workforce. The
provision of affordable housing for the exclusive accommodation of identified key workers has been
encouraged by consent authorities (such as Canada Bay Council) to draw back service workers
displaced from sub-regional labour markets by high housing costs. It may equally be used to attract
specifically desired elements of the labour force, such as artists are for Parramatta. An affordable
housing program targeting arts workers would inevitably also satisfy redistributional goals of
affordable housing, as arts workers typically have very low incomes (Throsby and Hollister, 2003)
and sustain their artistic activity through a precarious economic balance between production costs
and living expenses and income from artist activity, normally supplemented by part-time work. The
existing provision of a bedroom studio unit for an artist in residence within Parramatta Council’s
Community Art Facility and Artists Studios shows the link between arts and housing policy is already
being addressed incidentally by the Council.

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Parramatta City has a strongly stated strategic interest in developing culture as a leading element in
its consolidation as a secondary metropolitan hub of greater Sydney. This goal would be
complemented by a housing intervention targeting cultural workers as key workers in the desired
emerging economy of cultural production. Such an approach would be consistent with
redistributional goals of affordable housing provision, as artists’ incomes are known to typically be
very low. Attraction of a significant body of artists into a body of housing may open additional
opportunities for the housing project to develop innovative features such as community spaces and
serve as a hub of communication and activity within the local community. Further and more
importantly, this would create a model of affordable housing and onsite community enterprise which
could then be replicated in the area.

Parramatta’s recent interest in the development of cooperative housing may support a further
particularisation of its affordable housing provision rationale. There is potential to design a housing
project to build on alternate methods of tenancy management. Cooperative tenancy management has
a demonstrated capacity to enhance community well-being and connectedness. A housing project
established by Council may also play a role in exploring the development of means to transfer or
share part of the equity of a project to a tenant cooperative. Such a process would have extensive
implications for the development of housing ownership and control by households of limited means.

In order to test then potential for Parramatta to begin its intervention by assisting with the direct
supply of affordable housing, a review of potential sites was undertaken in Chapter 6. A site in
Granville was selected as the most appropriate site.

This investigation consisted of obtaining concept plans from an architect for a sustainable affordable
housing development, featuring an innovative scheme that involved the integration of affordability
and sustainability.

These plans were then costed and a feasibility analysis undertaken under two different scenarios:

1. A co-op model which involves the maximum amount of communal space which yield 30
dwellings;

2. A maximum yield model where the communal space is reduced and the yield increased to
37 dwellings.
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