Posted 20/02/2017 AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS ONLY FOR RENTERS Recently someone said in the media that it would be a good thing having affordable housing as it will give our young people a chance to enter the property market. WRONG ! ! ! ! Affordable housing is rental accommodation, run by a community service provider that allows workers who are employed in a local area to have affordable rental accommodation in that area. Affordable Housing IS NOT to assist anyone to be able to purchase a dwelling at an affordable price. This is an important point that is being misunderstood by many in the community. There is a fair bit of talk going around that the Mona Vale Place Plan will be good in that it is proposing "Affordable Housing". Well, just what is affordable housing. Two letters to the Editor of the Manly Daily are show below:- Manly Daily 7 October 2016 Affordable Housing REGARDING the plan for more home units at Mona Vale, having battled increasing traffic on our roads for the last 40 years I can sympathise with those who want to prevent the construction of more home units (MD, Oct 1). But many workers who provide essential services for the northern beaches can’t afford to live here. These include teachers, health care workers, shop assistants, cleaners, maintenance people and many more, without whom our society would grind to a halt. Many of these people are forced to drive long distances to reach their workplace, adding to the traffic congestion. More affordable housing would allow more of these workers to be able to live close to work, improving the quality of life for all. Andrew Smallman, Mona Vale Manly Daily 6 October 2016 New units will hardly be affordable ONCE again we see piecemeal planning from our council, this time under the guise of affordable housing at Mona Vale. We all know these new units will start at $1.2 million, which is hardly affordable. If this proceeds, the proposed B-Line bus will not cope, plus the Saturday morning run from Dee Why to Mona Vale will be gridlocked with the addition of extra Mona Vale to Manly Vale sports traffic from the new sports fields that were once a golf course. The word “planning” is hardly appropriate. Sports fields should be spread around, not the easy option of taking over a golf course. Ron Bennett, Narrabeen WHAT IS "AFFORDABLE HOUSING" There could be a misunderstanding in peoples minds relating to affordable housing conjuring up visions of many affordable apartments where the essential service workers can live. But who is going to provide this affordable accommodation. A developer isn't going to build the apartments out the goodness of his heart, developers build apartments to make a profit. The State Environmental Planning Policy (Afforable Rental Housing SEPP) determines this. The AHSEPP covers housing types including villas, townhouses and apartments that contain an affordable rental housing component. Affordable rental housing is housing for very low, low and moderate income earning households. These are currently households with an annual income of up to about $80,000 . This includes people who have no place to live, people on low and moderate incomes and key workers who need to live close to their employment. Affordable rental housing projects can only be proposed by the private sector in locations where this type of development is currently permissible. Not all apartments can be affordable housing. It is only between 20% and 50% of the gross floor area of the development can be used. It is likely developers will go for the minimum amount and then sell off the remaining 80% at current real estate market value prices. Furthermore the "Affordable Housing Component" is only for 10 years after which the affordable units revert to full real estate prices. It is important for people to realise these facts, as the term "Affordable Housing" can be misleading to the point where people may think it is the whole building, all the apartments will be "Affordable" for the life of the development, which isn't the case. MANLY DAILY 26 OCTOBER 2016 (Letter to Editor) Highrise Housing Will Not Be Affordable A FREEDOM of information request for data gathered during last year’s workshops has revealed that only one person out of 1300 submissions requested highrise development in Mona Vale. So why have our pleas to preserve the village atmosphere been largely ignored? It is because a council administration and the prodevelopment lobby are pushing through highrise development in the guise of affordable housing? The new units might be affordable if you have a lazy million in the bank. David Murray, Mona Vale COLD COMFORT - Administrator Dick Persson admits any Affordable Housing will only be for renters and if this young man and his family wish to purchase an "Affordable Home" Mona Vale / Pittwater is not the place and they will have to move out of the area. (Mona Vale Place Plan - Public Meeting 29 October 2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3bYzFCSVrM
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