Amid discussions about the future of Thirroul Plaza, housing advocate Phillip Balding, founder of the Greater Gong and Haven group, shares his view.
Thirroul Village is back on the menu. This month the chef is asking the guests what sides it should come with – a basketball court and plaza? Cafe or bar? Private frontage like Frank's or open like Beaches? What I want to know is if the community are even hungry.
“The main is apartments,” says the chef.
“In that case, I already ate.”
There is a dire shortage of homes indicated by the low rent vacancy rate. Especially lacking are diverse smaller homes, and with it comes declined affordability. Demographics have changed – now 26% of folks live alone, another 33% as a couple. Yet 90% of housing is still big detached dwellings here. There’s a lack of choice.
The few units available in the northern suburbs are nearing, if not already, a million dollars. Yet while land values rise on houses due to obvious land shortages between the cliff and the surf, I’m told by experts that we still have a fair bit of sky. Apartment values rise well above the cost to build them simply because of scarce rights to do so.
We need more housing, yes in my backyard too, because normal people without inherited wealth come from and make up this community. Young, ageing, single, local employees, your own kids – many are happy to downsize given the choice, at location, and for the right price. Many are willing to forego a backyard, available as near as West Dapto, to have a unit in the heart of the community they belong to. How do I know this? You don’t need a survey, just look at prices going up on these old, deteriorating structures that take up negligible land. That shows demand.
Traffic is the #1 reason locals oppose housing, for good reason. And adding 50 units to the town centre would cause half the traffic compared to adding 50 townhouses throughout the hills and non-proximal locations that depend on driving. Meeting demand in this way is the best thing for traffic.
Of course, Thirroul Village’s brand new units won't exactly be affordable, because just like new cars, new housing rarely is. The incoming residents would free up and sell on (or at least rent out) their older, cheaper homes for those less wealthy. This “Downward Filtering” process is how more new housing supply creates affordability, throughout the market and particularly on the oldest and cheapest stuff.
But when you start seeing engineers and corporate professionals moving into these old red brick units – that were occupied by hospitality staff not 10 years ago – you are witnessing a poorly functioning housing market with “upward filtering” due to shortages.
Besides a few public and social housing required for the very unfortunate, it’s misdirected if nonsensical to think about building old or affordable units for the millions priced-out and for the evicted. The cause of their demise is a lack of new normal, market-rate housing.
On behalf of Thirroul Plaza Developments Pty Ltd, Solid Void consultancy is asking community members to give feedback via a survey, which closes on June 10. Have your say here.
Want to share your view with the Flame? Please get in touch.
