21 December 2010
Yesterday the NSW Government released a discussion paper to review the Affordable Housing SEPP.
Of immediate interest to us was section 3.3(a) of the discussion paper. This reversed the previous NSW Government position, by proposing an examination of the financial feasibility of additional ˜affordable housing levies.
The paper flags that the existing levies that only apply in Willoughby City Council and in the City of Sydney could be extended more generally. The current levies only apply to several small areas and range from between 0.8 per cent and 4 per cent of the value of a new home.
Since the 2008 review of developer levies, the NSW Government has said that no new affordable housing levies would be imposed. The text of the paper breaks with that practice and flags a different direction. A proposal by Waverley Council to impose an affordable housing levy at Bondi Junction is singled out for special mention.
In response to this about-face by the government, yesterday afternoon we released a media statement titled New housing taxes flagged, five days before Christmas. It is available here.
Following enquires from media organisations that had studied our release, a NSW Government spokesperson told the media that the NSW Government has announced a review of the Affordable Rental Housing SEPP and there has been NO decision announced, NOR any proposal made [capitals as per the spokespersons statement].
This review is a call for comments from all stakeholders, not just vested interests, and ALL views will be taken into account during the process.
Later in the day, a second statement was made to the media, by the same government spokesperson: The Government has ruled out any levies or taxes to pay for affordable housing,” he said.
This was a proposal from Local Government, which will not be going ahead.
The Government will instead look at streamlining the planning process to increase housing affordability.
Now, it appears, the current state government is washing its hands of the proposal and blaming local government. Either way, we are pleased that our media activity has prompted the current government to rule out any new affordable housing levies.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported the governments change of position here in a story titled Proposed home levy dumped after developer pressure. The governments original proposal was also reported in the Daily Telegraph.
We will be drawing the NSW Oppositions attention to the governments (re-instated) commitment and will be seeking the same promise from them
Many other matters are covered in the discussion paper, including changes to new generation boarding houses, management arrangements for rent-controlled housing and the floor space ratio for low-rise infill development that is otherwise prohibited.
Details of the review are here. Submissions close on 1 March 2011.
The outcome of the review will be dealt with by the winner of the next NSW state election. Given that the NSW Opposition has expressed serious concerns with the Affordable Housing SEPP, its possible that this review will never be completed, or the outcome will be something quite different to that implied by the text of the discussion paper.