With a growing population, and a lack of housing, Dubbo Regional Council has to act fast.
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At the next council meeting on Thursday, April 28 councillors will be voting on creating a Housing Roadmap that will guide the undertaking of Council actions and initiatives in respect to housing from both the short term perspective and also more long term strategies.
Dubbo Regional Council have consulted with the Dubbo Housing Supply Reference Group and held a meeting which was attended by REINSW, Dubbo Residential Builders Group, industry professionals and councillors where the following issues were brought up:
- The need for better promotion of housing opportunities for Dubbo including information on: dual occupancy development; secondary dwellings; and general information around planning controls.
- The need for the business strategy of council in respect of the Keswick Estate to be clarified and communicated to industry, especially at the current time with issues around land supply in Dubbo.
- A need for a variety of housing types and styles to be allowable at the Keswick Estate.
- The lack of affordable and social housing in Dubbo and especially the status of crisis accommodation. The status of the rental market and the affordability issues perspective tenants are experiencing.
- The need for further streamlined development assessment processes to ensure housing products are not further constrained.
- The need for council to continue to examine innovative and other ways to facilitate housing.
- The status and number of existing buildings in Dubbo that could be re-purposed into short term and other residential accommodation.
- For Council to provide greater clarity and understanding to industry of what council actions and initiatives are being undertaken and to ensure there is greater clarity for all players in the Housing Market.
- The extreme need for short term worker accommodation in Dubbo and the wider Region.
A report by the CEO has shown that both Dubbo and Wellington are in desperate need of suitable housing arrangements for the growing population in the towns.
Data from Core Logic shows that the median house price in Dubbo between January 2021 and December 2021 has increased from $385,000 to $455,444, while the median unit price in Dubbo over the last 12 months to December 2021 increased from $270,000 to $309,500
The median price of land in Dubbo has also increased by 15.53 percent to $199,000 over the last 12 months.
According to the data the current rental vacancy rate of 0.5 percent in April 2022, highlights the difficulty faced by local residents in finding property. Currently the weekly asking rents for units is $317 and for houses is $458.
According to the report the "growing private rental market in Dubbo may indicate a lack of affordable housing options associated with the larger size of Dubbo's dwelling stock and/or a lack of houses pushing up prices."
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"It may also be the result of more transient workers in our LGA during this time increasing the rental demand."
The reduction in the private rental market in Wellington may be attributed to lower house prices in Wellington and the ageing population who are more likely to be able to afford to purchase houses outright.
Council's records indicate that close to five percent of dwellings in Dubbo and Wellington are provided by social/community housing providers, which is not meeting the needs of the community.
According to the CEO emphasis has been placed on the preparation of a new Developer Contributions Plan for Urban Roads and a new Developer Servicing Plan for Water and Sewer Infrastructure for Dubbo. Both of these Plans will facilitate the framework for the delivery of required infrastructure for Dubbo, especially within the residential growth areas in West Dubbo.
It is also understood that the State Government is undertaking the preparation of a Housing Strategy, which will incorporate the Dubbo Regional Local Government Area.
This Strategy is aiming to examine issues not just related to straight housing availability but also issues in respect of the availability of trades, staffing and associated issues.
The Dubbo Local Environmental Plan 2022 contains a number of residential growth areas in West Dubbo and along with land in South-East Dubbo, will facilitate the future growth and development of the City over the next 30 years.
Recent analysis has shown that these lands, in addition to lands in South-East Dubbo will provide in excess of some 11,000 residential allotments over time.
According to the report at the present time, Wellington does not have significant future residential lands, which have been set aside for development.
The Local Government Area is experiencing a significant increase in economic activity, which is driving the need for the provision of short term worker accommodation in both Dubbo and Wellington.
Council is undertaking a consultancy project to understand the overall demand in the LGA moving forward, the models available for short term accommodation and to seek the financial modelling of a proposal for Dubbo and a proposal for Wellington.
"At the core of council's objective for short term worker accommodation is to ensure any proposal leaves a lasting positive legacy for our community. The results of this consultancy project will be provided to council for consideration once the project has been finalised," the CEO said.
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