Noosa man's housing crisis solution
12:00a.m. 28th August 2008
Noosa Portable Buildings owner Clyde Collins reckons he has a solution to the housing affordability crisis with his portable dwellings, if only council would relax policy restrictions on their installation. Photo: Geoff Potter/N21484
A return to the granny flat may help deliver a solution to the Sunshine Coast’s mounting housing affordability crisis.
Sunshine Coast Council has signalled a willingness to re-think the policy directions of the past which have actively discouraged the provision of separate, self-contained accommodation attached to a principal home.
The change may be driven by council’s newly-commissioned Housing Affordability Taskforce.
Noosa Portable Buildings proprietor Clyde Collins has complained at difficulty in getting a clear set of guidelines for the placement of accommodation units he sells for $35,000.
Mr Collins said the units were attracting interest from parents who have children returning home because they can’t afford market rents and the need to accommodate older family members who still want their own space.
“The units are being treated as if they are brand new homes,’’ he said.
“The regulations are mind-boggling. It’s muddying the water for everybody. The need is out there.’’
Mr Collins said he had an answer to the affordability crisis, council just needed to remove some of the red-tape so that people could access it.
His fully-engineered units, which include cooking facilities, vanities, showers and toilets as well as sleeping accommodation, are assembled at his Noosa Industrial Estate business.
Mr Collins, parents and children wanting to make elderly parents part of their families may find a sympathetic ear from the taskforce.
Both council representatives on the taskforce said yesterday that they were willing to re-look at policies that hinder granny flats.
Councillor Vivien Griffin said she welcomed hearing from Mr Collins.
“If there are barriers that can be pulled down, let’s do it,’’ she said.
Ms Griffin said while planning schemes could not be changed quickly, council would look at doing something to ease the installation of not only granny flats, but accommodation for younger family members returning home.
Councillor Anna Grosskreutz said previous councils had actively discouraged construction of granny flats.
“They are policy decisions that would have to be re-worked,’’ she said.
Ms Grosskreutz said she had grown up with her grandmother living in a flat attached to the family home and had found the experience rewarding.
Any policy shift is unlikely to help Joyce Baker, a former Sunshine Coast self-funded retiree who lost her savings when a solicitors’ first mortgage scheme investment turned sour.
Ms Baker, who has to leave the rental property in which she lives on the Gold Coast because it has been sold, said she had searched through rental property listings from the upper Coomera to Noosa to no avail.
She said that while there were more than 1000 properties on the listings she saw, they were all too expensive.
The upper limit on "affordable", defined by her income, means she can pay no more than $260 a week for a place to live.
Recent Comments
One quick fix maybe to allow as of right those people with a high-set home to enclose underneath for separate accommodation and the extra car space can still be contained under the existing roof area in most cases. Other than that, the idea of these granny flats should be explored as a matter of urgency and implemented sooner rather than later.
Fantastic idea? Yes.
Will it happen? Maybe;.
Will it be streamlined and inexpensive? I doubt it.
They can then be there for when the next housing shortage/financial crisis hits. But they will also be very helpful in encouraging the elderly to live an independent life, but closer to loved ones/friends and to reduce the demand for frail/aged accommodation. They will also be a good first step to independence for kids leaving the nest, potential accommodation to encourage 'home based' cottage industry, and just maybe improve the value of a property...can't understand why such facilities would ever be banned – other than plumbing/amenity issues.
Finally the day will come when your aged love one moves in.....say $20,000 in approvals, $35,000 for the relocatable, $20,000 for the trades men to hook up the services as per Council compliance. $10,000 in headworks contributions and you've added a temporary room to your house for the cost of say $85,000.........a year, two or five later they become ill and have to move to a higher level of care facility.
Then the use it was intended for is discontinued and it will need to be removed as per Council by-laws to stop by default multi residential uses on low density housing areas.
The real solution is housing types in the right location aka Low cost housing in Public Private particapation projects. The Developer / Builder produces a low cost product government land, for the first say 20 years and government takes the head lease over the property and distributes the accomodation on a needs basis.
The Developer or subsequent owners get an investment property with a government tenant (yes it will be at a low return to repay the cost of the land over 20years...aka deferred payment / 2nd mortgage) and an exit / redevelopment / renewal strategy at the end of the 20 lease term. The rent will be cheaper because the developer has only to cover the cost of the improvement not the land. The scheme is both bankable and tax effective and works the same from the government end as if they just sold the land and put the money back into rent subsidies. The point of this is to get the private sector providing low cost housing.......Be interested to hear others thoughts on the matter?????
The proposal is for government sites in the middle of a township (where existing infrastructure exists) I can pick 3 lots of Council chambers that will need to be rationalised for a start!!!
"Read 29/08/08 article about Noosa aged care proposal"
Yikes. They've contributed to the housing affordability problem.
N.B.: roncampbell from Dulong ran for Div 5 in the March election. Yikes again.
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