Allowing developers to build taller apartment blocks in return for some affordable housing is a step in the wrong direction, according to Greens Wollongong City Council candidate Kit Docker.
Mr Docker opposed the changes, in part because the affordable housing it offered wasn't permanent - there is no obligation to retain it after 15 years.
"It isn't a step in the right direction in terms of giving concessions to developers," Mr Docker said.
"I don't really understand where the benefit is for the community in providing those concessions like allowing for increased density or increased height limits and the pressures that are placed on the city and on infrastructure that [see] the aesthetic of the city change.
"At the end of the day, they can sell those homes off. We need to remember developers, the first chance they will get, they have taken all those concessions from us and they will sell it off for profit."
"Our plan is from 2026, we're going to increase that 3 per cent of floor space to 10 per cent of floor space on large developments to be set aside for affordable housing," Mr Docker said.
"This will increase by 3 per cent year on year until it reaches 30 per cent by 2033. "That's aligning with the current policy but with more ambitious targets. They're still phased in to give developers an opportunity to adapt."
"Wollongong LGA has the second highest demand for homeless services in the entire state," Mr Docker said.
"That is not a title that we should have in a regional city, especially given all of the developments that we are seeing going up, but none are being put aside for the community. "That's why on council under a Greens-led council, we will be pushing for far more ambitious affordable housing targets which will actually match the crisis which we are facing."
Ms Whittaker said there was the chance to have both a vibrant city and one people in the future could afford to live in.
"Part of that is providing affordable housing and making housing accessible to everyone and keeping our communities together," Ms Whittaker said.
"We have a massive opportunity. There's a lot of development that's going to be in the pipeline in the next 10 years in Wollongong.
"If we get this right and we get the targets right, when up-zoning happens, we can do those things and we can keep our communities together."
Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 24 July 2024.
