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New landscaping vital for housing SOUTH Australia's Housing Minister, Jay Weatherill, has called for the creation of sustainable development areas in inner, middle and outer suburban areas as a way of addressing both housing affordability and environmental sustainability.Speaking at the Third State of Australian Cities Conference in Adelaide, Mr Weatherill said there was an urgent need to improve our cities through urban renewal. "Never has there been a better time to get something serious done," Mr Weatherill said. "With the election of the Labor Government, we have welcomed in a new era of housing in Australia where all levels of governments, the community and private sectors will be looking for innovation in housing." Mr Weatherill said that declining housing affordability means that, for many people, buying a home is becoming increasingly out of reach. "If we don't act now, a whole generation will be locked out of home ownership," he said. Mr Weatherill said that Australians were enjoying the best economic conditions for a generation and that, in a growing economy, people are placing their own demands on the type and location of housing they want. "In response to this we need to improve our city and existing suburbs through brownfields developments and urban regeneration. We need to bring existing communities with us so they share in the benefits of that urban renewal." Mr Weatherill said a national housing and urban development reform programme should involve a Commonwealth, State and Local Government partnership creating the opportunity for the private and non-government sectors to create new sustainable communities. "Sustainable development areas would be a series of demonstration projects in a broad selection of urban settings - from greenfields to the inner city, middle ring and outer suburban areas," he said. "These areas would show how successful sustainable living can be - how it meets the diverse needs of our citizens, such as their need for proximity to public transport and employment and having an attractive place to live. "They will create a template for best practice that can be adapted to different communities and their specific needs." Mr Weatherill said essential elements of such a plan would include coordinated land assembly, a strong and locally relevant planning framework which supports community values, a 15 per cent affordable housing component, ecologically sustainable design measures in new homes, infrastructure investments and co-ordinated investment in social and economic infrastructure such as public transport, broadband, schools, hospitals and stormwater reuse schemes. "Any housing policy will have to deal with the growing community concern about issues like climate change, the drought and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "For the first time in eleven and a half years, we will have a national Housing Minister and the new Federal Government has given us a firm commitment that it will develop a National Housing Affordability Strategy led by its new minister. "National leadership and the linking of sustainable development to tackling climate change would create a political consensus for urgent action to reconfigure our cities. "If we can achieve this, our cities will operate in a way that will allow our communities to prosper, to shelter our citizens and protect our fragile planet." |
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