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Green Square Affordable Housing

The City recognises that affordable housing is vital in making sure people with lower incomes have an opportunity to live and work in central areas which offer employment, transport and services. Green Square provides an opportunity to develop an inner city area which supports affordable housing and a strong and diverse community.

Affordable housing refers to ‘reasonable’ housing costs in relation to income. A common benchmark is that affordable housing is housing that does not absorb more than 30% of a very low, low or moderate income household’s gross income.

The City’s Affordable Housing Scheme for Green Square is set out in the Council’s Local Environmental Plan 1998 and Affordable Housing Development Control Plan 2002. You can download the Green Square Affordable Housing DCP as a PDF document.

The Scheme aims to mitigate the decrease in affordable rental accommodation by requiring the provision of affordable housing when land in the Green Square Renewal Area is developed.

Background

Green Square land rezoning and infrastructure improvements have  increased the development potential of the area and hence land values. This tends to raise the cost of buying or renting homes, putting them beyond the reach of low to moderate income households. Council and the community recognise the need to provide housing for a mix of income groups close to the new job opportunities. This was acknowledged in the Green Square Structural Masterplan. Developments in Green Square are now required to provide some affordable housing as detailed in the South Sydney LEP 1998.

Inclusionary Zoning

LEP 1998 encourages and promotes a variety of housing for both the new and existing communities in terms of building styles, tenure and social mix. A particular aim is the development of housing that is affordable to a cross-section of income groups.

In order to achieve this, the Green Square Affordable Housing Scheme aims to provide about 330 rental units for very low to moderate income households  as development proceeds over the next 15 to 20 years.

The scheme is being implemented by the zoning provisions in LEP 1998 and the Affordable Housing DCP 2002, under which all development within Green Square (other than certain specified development categories) is required to provide affordable housing.

The requirement to make an affordable housing contribution forms a condition of development consent. A developer may choose to provide affordable housing on-site, or to pay the equivalent monetary contribution to allow housing units to be built somewhere else within Green Square. However, on-site provision is encouraged.

The Scheme has been carried over into the draft City Plan LEP 2011 which is the new planning instrument for the City. You can read about the draft City Plan here.

Contribution Rates and Indexation

The affordable housing contribution requirements (as they apply from 1 March 2011 to 28 February 2012), are listed as follows:

(a) Residential Development

Where the contribution is provided in-kind/on-site, 3% of the total residential floor area is required to be provided as affordable housing.

Where the contribution is in lieu monetary contribution, the current rate equates to $138.35 per square metre of total residential floor area.

(b) Non-Residential Development

Where the contribution is provided in-kind/on-site, 1% of the total non-residential floor area is required to be provided as affordable housing.

Where the contribution is in lieu monetary contribution, the current rate equates to $46.10 per square metre of total non-residential floor area.

In lieu monetary contributions are indexed to ensure that the contributions reflect the costs associated with the provision of affordable housing units over time.

The contribution rates are indexed annually on March 1 on the basis of the Established House Price Index for Sydney for the preceding year (December to December - using arithmetic averages of the quarterly index numbers) as published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (Cat. No. 6416.0).
The Green Square Affordable Housing DCP and Practice Notes explain the application of the Green Square Affordable Housing Scheme. You can download the Green Square Affordable Housing Practice Notes as a PDF document.

City West Housing Company Pty. Ltd. is the recommended Affordable Housing provider for Green Square. City West Housing can be contacted on 02 8584 7500 or visit Web:
www.citywesthousing.com.au

Downloads

For More Information

Jane Grose
Specialist Planner
City Plan Development Unit - Green Square
Tel: 02 9265 9346
Email: jgrose@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Samantha Bird
Planner
City Plan Development Unit - Green Square
Tel: 02 9265 9209
Email: sbird@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

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Last Updated: Monday 28 February, 2011

Please Note:
While care is taken to ensure accuracy, the City of Sydney cannot guarantee that information expressed here is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. The City of Sydney makes no warranty or undertaking, whether expressed or implied, nor does it assume any legal liability, whether direct or indirect.