Greens Candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker is calling for a fairer deal on affordable housing from developers who capitalise from increased development throughout Wollongong.
Kit Docker said: “Affordable housing initiatives at both the local and state government levels are inadequate and unacceptable given the state of homelessness and housing stress in communities across Wollongong.
“This is a crisis that we can help tackle and we can help our young people to live close to their workplace and allow people with children to live close to their grandparents. Housing affordability can start with local government. We want to create a city and smaller villages, such as Dapto, Unanderra, where children can live close to their grandparents.
“The current state and local government policies simply continue the decades-old status quo of giving developers free range and access to opportunities in the city which disadvantages new generations getting into housing.
“Low income households, such as one or two people working in essential industries, nursing, teaching, or health care, are increasingly feeling the stress of renting. We need to disrupt this cycle.”
Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 Jess Whittaker said: “If elected to Council the Greens will pursue a bold housing agenda that recognises the urgency of our housing crisis. Under our plan, starting in 2026, council will require large developments to allocate at least 10 percent of floor space for affordable housing. This target will increase by three percent each year until it reaches 30 percent in July 2033, with a final increase of 2 percent in the last year.
“The Greens will also push the next council to begin feasibility studies into using council-owned land for council-led affordable housing developments. If we explore the opportunity with a combination of grants and zero-interest loan schemes we could boost council’s capacity to ease the housing crisis especially for younger generations and also for those people who are nearing retirement and want to downsize and live closer to
Wollongong CBD.
“We’ll also push the council to pursue an ambitious Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme to ensure that big developers contribute to housing affordability in our city.
“Every person should have the right to affordable, accessible, safe housing and the first step on this ladder is local government. If we don’t make these changes to our local policies, then we will forever make it difficult for our younger generations to own a home of their own.”
