Local Housing Strategy In Hurlstone Park: Vision, Objectives, And Policies

Describe about the Local Housing Strategy.
 

Background Information

Hurlstone Park is in the suburbs in the inner western part of Sydney located 9km to the south west of the central business district of Sydney and is the local government area of the council of Canterbury – Bankstown with parts of Ashfield Municipality.  The aim of the plan is to improve the open spaces and parks, provide higher choices pertaining to housing, add to the streetscape comprising of shops, restaurants, parks and other facilities that the locals can enjoy, enhance the cycling tracks and walking tracks, help in the creation of more jobs locally in Hurlstone Park. The plan is beneficial for providing strategic directions and related actions for guiding the management of environment, productivity, liveability and so on of Sydney including employment, open space, infrastructure and housing (Yigitcanlar et al., 2008).

Vision statement

The vision was pertaining to Sydney which would grow to be a global city that was strong and great to live in. Sydney is the largest city in Australia, it is global in nature and is also known to be the economic capital of the nation (planning.nsw.gov.au, 2016). The city is home for more than four million individuals who dwell in communities that have unique identities and collectively enrich the character and the life of the city. Hurlstone Park would be developed in terms of the parks, open spaces and other public facilities. This would not only enhance the locality but create higher number of job opportunities.

Set of objectives for the strategy

A plan needs to be initiated that would make commuting easier for those people who shuffle between parks, shops, jobs and home (Easthope and Randolph, 2009). The plan would also offer a broad range in terms of housing to suit the altering dynamics of the population. The plan would deliver new infrastructure for supporting the communities as they grow (planning.nsw.gov.au, 2016). The plan would also recognise the environment in terms of the coast, the harbour, the parks, the mountains and the open areas and provide for safeguarding such spaces.

There a directions, goals and actions of the plan for guiding the growth that is expected and maintaining the vision for Hurlstone Park. The goals include having a locality that is competitive with transport and services that would be of global standards, a city that has housing choice with the homes meeting the lifestyles and needs, a superior place to live in communities that are well connected, healthy and strong in nature and a city that is resilient and sustainable that extends protection towards the natural environment having a balanced approach towards the usage of resources and land (Morris, 2009).

Vision statement

Other relevant local state policies and plans

The state environmental planning policies cope with the matters related to the regional or state environmental planning. Such plans are made on recommendation by the governor. The recommendations are made by the Minister for planning and have a scope of being exhibited as a draft to invite public comments prior to being published as being a legal document. The state policies include the state environmental planning policies for regional and statement development of year 2011, drinking water catchment of Sydney of year 2011, urban renewal of year 2010, rental housing that is affordable for year 2009, western Sydney parklands of year 2009, complying development and exempt codes of year 2008, employment area of western Sydney of year 2009, rural lands of year 2008, alpine resorts – Kosciuszko national park of year 2007, infrastructure of year 2007 among others.

Demographic Indicators

In the year 2011, the census population pertaining to Hurlstone Park was 4118 with the people living in 1737 dwellings. The size of the average household was 2.54 (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016). Population of the dwellings that are non private type include those individuals who stay in temporary or long term dwellings that provide accommodation in the communal form. These comprise of hostels, homes and other similar institutions. The estimated resident population has been depicted in the following table.

Table 1: Population Growth of Hurlstone Park

Household structure for Hurstone Park has been included in the following table:

Table 2: Dwellings at Hurlstone Park

Table 3: Culture and Ethnicity of Hurlstone Park

Household incomes of Hurlstone Park have been depicted in the following table. The data included in the table outlines the population proportion with labour force and those who classify as being unemployed or not within labour force (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016). The data may comprise those who are retired and mothers who are stay at home.

Table 4: household Income Quartiles

Housing tenure

67% households in Hurlstone Park comprised of purchased or owned homes, 23% of them comprised of private rental and 2.6% comprised of social housing as of year 2011. The housing tenure of Hurlstone Park provides an insight of the status socio economically and the role played in the market for housing. The tenure data is considered to be useful for the analysis of the housing affordability, housing market and also the identification of the public type housing areas.

The proportion of the home owned households combined with those purchasing their homes has remained more or less same in the past decade between 2001 and 2011 in Central coast with a shift in tenures in with the general trend of NSW (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016). The household proportion of owned homes has declined and the same period witnessed increase in the household proportions of those who purchase their homes and also an increase in private rentals.

Set of objectives for the strategy

The tenure of 2001 to 2011 has witnessed a shift with decline in households owning homes and increase in purchasers and less extent of renters in NSW (Jones and Coombes, 2013). Such trend also occurred in Central Sydney where a decline in the fully owned household proportions ranged between -18.7% in Strathfield, -3.1% in local government areas of Sydney and -10% across Sydney. The increase in the purchaser between year 2001 to 2011 ranged from 14% at Strathfield, 7.3% at Sydney, as compared to 9.5% across Sydney (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016).  

Table 5: housing Tenure

Affordability indicators

Generally affordable housing is appropriate in terms of the needs of the household and are within their paying means. The means of the household regarding payment of their housing is dependent on factors such as the income of the said household, the cost related to appropriate housing and other living costs that are essential and need to be met by the said household including food, transport, healthcare, education and household related goods (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016). If a housing is considered appropriate for the said household has a number of design related characteristics along with cultural, social and economic attributes of the said household. Central indicators pertaining household appropriateness include being of a reasonable quality and standard, matching the size of the considered household and is neither underutilised nor over crowded, is cost efficient in terms of maintenance, is located in close proximity to facilities such as service, community and job utilised by the household members and is efficient in terms of water and energy (Insch, 2007).

Demand trends

The structure industrially of a sub region or a region provides indications of the demand trends of housing. It is significant to establish distinction between the structural unemployment which is a result of permanent decline in a given industry and the cyclical unemployment that is the result of the business cycle fluctuations (Small, 2008). A significant shift has been noted in the pattern of employment from those that are full time to casual and part time employment (housingpathways.nsw.gov.au, 2016). Such trends effect the ability of certain households to get loans for the purpose of home ownership as there is an underlying uncertainty related to their income in the future.

House price locally provide the estimate of the related amount for housing supple in terms of demand of an area in particular. Prices are indicative of the active stock amount less housing stock available on rent or sale. Price of the houses provide the measurement basis of the housing extent which is considered affordable in an area in particular. Rent is a significant indicator of affordability and its key indicators include vacancy rates, percentage changes and actual rents. Stable rent is indicative of a reasonable balance between demand and supple for the rental dwellings in a given area. While rents are analysed, it must be noted that rents might have seasonal patterns (housingpathways.nsw.gov.au, 2016).

Other relevant local state policies and plans

Table 6 : Household income – indicative rent – indicative house price

It is the responsible of community housing to maintain the waiting list pertaining to property allocation and tenancy that is going along with the management of properties. The city council of Willoughby retain the unit ownership and responsibility for the fees of body corporate and other major costs related to maintenance (housingpathways.nsw.gov.au, 2016). This includes necessary improvement or structural damage. Community housing of North Shore shoulders the responsibility of minor maintenance that includes paint work and carpeting. The rental income meets such expenses and other administrative costs.

New housing development pertains to the plan for growing Sydney in terms of its liveability, environment management and productivity and comprised of factors such as employment, open space, infrastructure and housing (planning.nsw.gov.au, 2016).

Since year 2006, the rate of vacancy has remained below 2% which indicated a severe shortage in the long term for accommodation of private rental.  As of 2014, the rate of vacancy for Sydney was 1.7% it is considered that a 3% vacancy rate represents the balance between supply and demand (housing.nsw.gov.au, 2016). In the market for rental, there have been noted strong increases in the rent median in the category of bedroom in the last half decade. There has been doubling of all median rents pertaining to dwellings between year 2000 and year 2013.  Ever since year 2006, the rate of vacancy has been below 2% which is an indicator of severe shortage. A very small proportion of the stock is affordable for the households having low income. The south local government areas of Sydney have undergone notable loss pertaining to affordable houses in between year 2006 and year 2013.

To summarise it can be said that rental housing that is affordable is the basic need and significant component in a sustainable city that is dynamic and inclusive in nature. Affordable housing refers to the housing cost that is reasonable with regard to the income of an individual. Sydney has demonstrated commitment towards working alongside the government for addressing the shortage of housing that is affordable in the local government areas. In central Sydney and nearby areas, homelessness along with shortage of affordable housing form serious issues it is required  to act on the aspect of shortage of affordable housing and facilitate the planning permissions in this regard.

Proposed objectives

The objective of the housing strategy would include the following:

• identification of the constraints that are built form and environmental and the renewal opportunities
• Development of a vision that would use the land plan for every precinct.
• Projection of suitable employment and housing growth
• Be informed regarding the market demand and analysis of economic feasibility
• Undertake an infrastructural capacity analysis and identification of the required infrastructure for supporting the growth projected
• Identify the different service improvements and transport infrastructure and develop a desired framework for guiding the future change in land use.

Demographic indicators

Planning strategies

A framework for strategic planning needs to be established with the support of the strategy for providing guidance in regard to the future delivery of infrastructure and the related development by meand of an urban renewal corridor within a stipulated timeframe. It is essential to identify the opportunities pertaining to the strategy that would be instrumental in the creation of additional jobs as well as housing in close proximity to the stations and provide the requisite infrastructure for benchmarking future growth. The strategy would make it possible for the government agencies and councils to identify, co ordinate and prioritise the future change in land use and the infrastructure delivery according to the corridors growth potential in the long run.

The improvement in terms of public transport that would be provided by the Sydney metro would enhance the attractiveness of the area being a dwelling area. The undertaken strategy would improve the supply of the new housing in the corridor between Bankstown to Sydenham and make sure the housing choice would effectively meet the requirements of the diverse communities. On an approximate 1000+ more dwelling could be accommodated in the said corridor by the year 2036 with the major new housing being in a 400 m radius of rail stations and within walking distance of local shops and public transport.

Table  7: Projected Dwelling Growth

Local environment plan

Provision of edge conditions having seating scope, access of river edge, steps into the water, jetties, boardwalks, planted edges and landscape edges would be adequate for accommodating the different experiences along the said corridor. Provision of diversified usage including beaches, playground, cafes, kiosks, wetlands, native gardens, sports opportunities and ampi theatres would provide diversified experiences and promote usage of the corridor. Higher usage of the local landscape and rivers in the potential park creation would add to the strategy.

Proposal for rezoning

Future planning of precinct required in depth for determination of the required infrastructure for supporting potential rezoning. Such analysis would comprise of time frames for delivery, indicative costs and the investigation of suitable funding arrangements for infrastructure. It would be required of the government of NSW to investigate the funding source range for the infrastructure that supports the strategy, this would also include the mechanisms that enable the government share the uplift of value that is created by the enhanced density of development and investment in improved services and infrastructure.

Housing tenure

Council wide strategies

The role of community infrastructure is significant in the support of communities that are connected and healthy. With the development of the corridor between Bankstown and Sydenham, the facilities of the existing communities shall improve and new facilities added for supporting the newly developed residential population. The corridor would provide the scope of a strategically conducted analysis of the community facilities that would be required in the future. Such community facilities would be located in the areas that have high accessibility such as at the centre of the town or about the stations. In order to make sure that the delivery of the community infrastructure for the support of the projected plan is appropriately achieved, work needs to b undertaken by the local councils, delivery agencies and related stakeholders for informing an in depth planning of social infrastructure.

In order to initiate the strategy, it is essential to align in the initiatives, align the performance and the budget, format the structure that follows the strategy, engage the related personnel and monitor and adapt. It is required of the management committee to decide who all needs to be involved in the strategic implementation. Those who would be carrying out the strategy, those who will be affected, those who are required for monitoring the implementation and those who contribute towards the development of the strategy such as the funding bodies and community activists.

It is essential to monitor and be integral to the stages of the strategy cycle. Project planning comprises of the situation analysis, identification of problem, goal definition, strategy formulation, work plan design and budgeting. The implementation of the project includes mobilization, use and control of the resources and the operation of the project. The final stage includes evaluation. It is required that all related institutions and individuals monitor. Monitor indicators include input indicators, output indicators, outcome indicators and impact indicators. Project monitoring is aided by means is the structure and strategy as by such means it is specified that is done during the implementation of the project. It is required that planning indicates what is to be monitored, by whom and how.

Conclusion

As the population grows, it is significant to provide housing to each individual irrespective of their social standing or income. Australia and the related local government areas have certain measures in place for those who are earning to those who are homeless. The aim is to develop a strategic corridor between Bankstown and Sydenham in order to provide dwelling place to all. the strategy is developing a housing strategy effectively. 

References

Easthope, H. and Randolph, B. (2009). Governing the Compact City: The Challenges of Apartment Living in Sydney, Australia. Housing Studies, 24(2), pp.243-259.

Groenhart, L. (2013). Evaluating Tenure Mix Interventions: A Case Study from Sydney, Australia. Housing Studies, 28(1), pp.95-115.

Jones, C. and Coombes, M. (2013). An Assessment of Tenure-Specific Housing Market Areas for Housing Planning. Housing Studies, 28(7), pp.993-1011.

Liu, Y. (2009). Modelling urban development with geographical information systems and cellular automata. Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor & Francis.

Metropolitan Strategy discussion paper, Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region. (2004). [Epping, N.S.W.]: UDIA NSW.

Morris, A. (2009). Urban justice and sustainability: comparing the situation of older renters in public housing with that of older renters in private rented accommodation in Sydney. Local Environment, 14(5), pp.417-430.

Yigitcanlar, T., Velibeyoglu, K. and Baum, S. (2008). Knowledge-based urban development. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.