A local council has introduced incentives to encourage the supply of smaller and more affordable housing options.
From July 1, Noosa landowners who build secondary dwellings or ‘granny flats’ will no longer incur infrastructure charges.
The change is among the raft of financial incentives Noosa Council has introduced for the new financial year to encourage more small and affordable homes in an effort to combat housing challenges.
Council’s development and regulation director Richard MacGillivray said removing infrastructure charges for new secondary dwellings would save applicants on average about $7000.
“We hope the removal of infrastructure charges will entice more landowners to add a granny flat and rent it out to help meet the demand for small and affordable permanent housing for one-and-two-person households and older residents. It’s important to note these dwellings are not permitted to be short-term let.
“This change takes effect from the new financial year so any infrastructure charge notices issued prior to July 1 are still payable.”
Mayor Frank Wilkie said secondary dwellings, or granny flats, are a sustainable way to provide more homes.
“We hope by removing the infrastructure charges, which are typically several thousand dollars per application, we will see more people build them and offer them for rent,” he said.
The council will also waive development application fees for not-for-profit community housing providers where the development caters entirely for affordable rental housing.
Private developers will also be able to seek waived fees and charges for any long-term affordable rental premises included within new developments.
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“We realise building affordable rental premises needs to stack up financially given the cost of land and construction, so these incentives will help,” Cr Wilkie said.
The suite of financial incentives ratified by the council is among a raft of actions it is taking in response to the growing housing crisis.
“In November 2022 we adopted the Noosa Housing Strategy, committing council to a range of actions to help tackle the local housing crisis and many of these have already been delivered,” the mayor said.
“Council is working with community housing provider Coast2Bay to provide affordable housing on a council site in Cooroy, plus investigating other council-owned sites in Tewantin and Noosa Heads.
“Boosting supply of smaller, more affordable properties for key workers, older people and small households is a key intent of our proposed planning scheme amendments, which are currently before the minister awaiting approval.”
Noosa Council recently began a new monitoring program to track emerging housing challenges. It sets targets and measures for housing stock and building approvals, median rents, rental vacancies, social housing, land use planning, housing stress and unmet housing need, plus rental affordability for low-to-moderate income households.
