1. Need for a Housing Strategy

With the significant change that has occurred as a consequence of the council merger, there is both a need and an opportunity to examine and establish long-term policies for housing in the area. The Strategy also provides an implementation platform for the delivery of Council's long-term land use and social planning priorities for housing. In this context, there is a wide range of Local, Regional, State and Federal legislation and policy which influences the need and content of a Housing Strategy. These set the framework for how the Strategy then responds. Arguably the most notable of these are the State Government's Hunter Regional Plan and Council's Community Strategic Plan. The Housing Strategy sits between these key higher-level local and regional plans, takes its regional directions as required by the State Government and combines these with the desires encapsulated in the Community Strategic Plan to form a common direction forward.

Figure 3: High level Housing Strategy relationships

Council has recently completed its first Community Strategic Plan MidCoast 2030: Shared Vision, Shared Responsibility, as its primary guiding document for how Council will respond to the needs of its community. The document highlights a strategy to "Optimise land use to meet our environmental, social, economic and development needs", of which this Housing Strategy forms a key component.

Perhaps more importantly, the Community Strategic Plan has a performance measure that "The community is satisfied with land use planning decisions" - decisions need to be made within a clear and consistent framework.

At the current time, there are significant differences between the three former Council areas. There are three Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) that provide the high-level land use planning regulation, three Development Control Plans (DCPs) that provide further guidance on the assessment of proposed developments, as well as a myriad of other strategies, controls and policies that differ between the three former Council areas.

A key outcome of the Housing Strategy is to provide the high-level directions for residential housing that will enable a new consolidated LEP to be developed - the MidCoast LEP, as well as other supporting documents.

Council also has a role in addressing housing needs. The Community Strategic Plan identifies the need to "Support a diverse housing mix that provides choice and meets the needs of our community". The Plan recognises the diversity of organisations that assist in this area, including the social housing, disability support, youth and family services and aged care sectors. Council continues to work with providers in these areas to seek opportunities to address the diverse need of the whole MidCoast community.

The Hunter Regional Plan 2036 was published in October 2016 and incorporates the MidCoast as well as Cessnock, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Upper Hunter and Dungog council areas. The Plan establishes four key goals, all of which have relevance, particularly Goal 4 - Greater Housing Choice and Jobs, which are further broken down into a total of 27 "Directions". Of particular relevance to this Housing Strategy, the Regional Plan has specific references to: o Growing the MidCoast economy, particularly through leveraging opportunities like the Taree hospital and airport. o Growing tourism in the region. o Protecting and enhancing agricultural productivity - including avoiding land use conflicts. o Encouraging greater diversity of housing, more compact settlements and better design outcomes. o Enhancing recreational and other opportunities through appropriate infrastructure investment. o Protecting the region's heritage, whilst revitalising existing communities.

The Regional Plan also provides a MidCoast specific "Narrative", which outlines the priorities for the area, supporting many of the key directions as outlined above. The narrative also establishes the predicted population and dwelling increase targets - each being an additional 5,000 between the 2016 and 2036 period. This target is achievable as it is less than half of Council’s growth estimate (refer Section 2).

The Housing Strategy needs to respond to the changing demographics of the area. As with many coastal areas, the MidCoast has demographic characteristics that suggest:

o A growing population over coming years, particularly from inmigration from overseas, Sydney and Central Coast areas. o Rising demand for dwellings as a consequence of the population growth, but also growing vacancy rates (typically due to increasing holiday homes) and decreasing household sizes. o An above average and progressively aging population, with the area already having one of the oldest populations in Australia, a trend that is expected to continue. o Comparatively low employment, education and income levels, which can result in issues such as housing affordability, rental stress and ultimately homelessness.

These demographics drive the need for diversity in housing and the recognition that there is a range of needs within the community, both now and into the future. Further consideration of the growing and changing nature of the MidCoast population is provided in Section 2. In preparing this Housing Strategy we have sought to discuss issues with a broad range of communities, housing industry participants and with those that need to be able to interpret and use the Strategy into the future.

For example, eight community workshops were undertaken, particularly aimed at understanding the current and future opportunities in our existing urban areas. Feedback received has been used to influence the local responses that are discussed throughout Section 4 of this document, in particular the "What's important and how do we move forward" component of each local area sub-section. Consultation occurred with providers and developers of specialised housing types - including aged care, social and community housing, as well as broader planning industry participants. It was also important to consult and understand the needs of the various teams within Council including tourism, economic development, wastewater engineers and community development professionals that all have an interest in the housing being delivered in the MidCoast area. Together, these assist to build an information base that responds to both theoretical best practices, but also to the "on the ground" needs of the community. A balance between all these factors is then sought by this Housing Strategy. Consultation on the draft Housing Strategy was undertaken in early 2020. The Strategy was a key component of the ‘Zoning In’ consultation, focussing on the urban areas of the MidCoast. Eighteen information sessions were undertaken in twelve locations attended by around 1,000 people, with over 9,200 visits to the ‘Know Your Zone’ project page on

Council’s website. Changes were made to the Strategy in response to this consultation, as outlined in the ‘Zoning In – Urban Response to Feedback Report’ .

Figure 4: Consultation inputs to the Housing Strategy

There are many aspects of housing that are difficult to change or enable. For example, the desire for more affordable and smaller houses can be seen as problematic if good design and construction standards are not met. Allowing for innovation is also difficult in a planning system that enables development without Council's approval meaning that local government is often caught between the desire to innovate, and the need to protect communities from poor development outcomes.

Council can however use the planning system to encourage outcomes that meet the needs of residents both now, and in the future. A fine balance is needed between the many relevant, legitimate and sometimes competing interests of the industry, residents and the broader community.

Section 5 seeks to address these needs including:

o Recognising the presence and role of tourism in the residential sector, and the broader economy. o Ensuring that an aging population is well catered for in the residential environment and urban structure of towns including the design of dwellings to facilitate aging in place. o Balancing the need for housing to remain affordable, whilst not lowering the standard of living and design outcomes that are desired by many in the community. o Promoting opportunities for housing to be available for all, including through social and community housing provision that can meet long-term needs. o Encouraging sustainability in the urban context, reducing reliance on private transport and reinforcing opportunities for high quality neighbourhoods. o Balancing the need for housing against the environmental and rural qualities of the land.

There are many issues to consider, and these are not always easy to recognise and resolve. This Housing Strategy, seeks to position Council to deliver on:

o Short-term needs for co-ordinated land use planning directions. o Long-term opportunities that help to enable the MidCoast to expand on its enviable lifestyle and to protect its natural assets.