Vacant land at 78 Kookora Street has been identified as a site where affordable housing could be built. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Griffith City Council will approach the NSW Government to see if it can lease three vacant parcels of land that can be used to provide affordable housing in town.
The proposal – endorsed unanimously by councillors this week – seeks to combat the chronic rental shortage that is preventing the town from attracting much-needed workers.
Vacant parcels of Crown land (owned by the NSW Government) have been identified at Bromfield Street near Griffith High, 8-10 Kooyoo Street behind Service NSW and 78 Kookora Street next to Western Riverina Community School.
“All sites are conveniently located near the central part of Griffith and all sites have access to existing infrastructure,” council’s director of business, cultural and financial services Matthew Hanson told a council meeting recently.
The plan is that Griffith Council would ask that the NSW Government lets it lease the land for 99 years for low or no rent on the condition the land be used to develop affordable housing. Between 91 and 110 units could be built and rented as townhouses on these three blocks.
If the NSW Government agrees, council would not necessarily be the developer, but it could partner with a community housing provider or private company to get the units built.
“We’ve held meetings with the NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson and she is pretty keen to look at this,” Mayor Doug Curran said.
Griffith Council has partnered with Not-for-Profit Argyle Housing to construct affordable housing in town, but the cost of unused state land has proved a significant barrier to continuing this partnership.
The council had hoped the NSW Government would gift them unused land at Dave Taylor Park to build 20 affordable housing units, however they were charged market rates of $760,000.
The longstanding Treasury policy of charging market rates for unused land has continued under the current NSW Labor Government, despite its stated commitment to address what it calls a “housing supply crisis”.
Given the NSW Government’s reluctance to hand over land, the mayor felt that letting the council lease it might be a more palatable option.
Councillor Christine Stead expressed qualified support for the idea.
“I think it’s a great opportunity, but there’s a big but – we had a partnership before that went the wrong way … there’s a lot of money still outstanding for the local builders … I’m aware the the local builders have been burnt numerous times from these partnerships.”
Cr Stead was referring to Griffith City Council’s decision to donate land to not-for-profit Argyle Housing to construct affordable housing townhouses on the corner of Wakaden and Crossing streets in 2020.
Argyle chose Sydney-based company Greenwich Build Pty Ltd as the principal contractor, but the company went into liquidation, leaving several tradies owed thousands of dollars.
The current proposal is not seeking funding or partnerships at this stage – merely a commitment from the NSW Government to be able to use the land for affordable housing at a future date.
A community meeting on housing in Hanwood last week was told house prices in Griffith were double what they could be due to supply restrictions.
