Alert

Who does this affect?

Property developers and landowners.

What do you need to do?

Consider the Government's criteria and contact us to discuss your site.

Author
David Colenso  
Partner

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David Colenso  
Partner
T +61 7 3244 8152

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Brisbane
David Bell  
Scott Budd  

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The Department of Housing is looking for sites across QLD suitable for social housing to deliver the Federal Government’s stimulus package. Project developers in QLD should move quickly to assess their current sites against the criteria recently released by the Department of Housing.

Key site criteria

The key site criteria released by the Department are outlined below.

1. Commonwealth employment target

Proposals will be assessed against the Commonwealth priority employment areas, which may vary over the life of the program. These areas are across the state and not confined to the south-east corner.

2. Location

Proposals will be assessed against the Department’s desire not to create unreasonable concentrations of social housing in any particular precinct.

3. Physical site attributes

Proposals will be assessed with regard to the Department’s need to ensure it can provide a suitable level of accessibility without the need for extensive earthworks and retaining walls.

4. Value for money

The project will need to reflect value for money.

5. Development approvals

Where there is no existing development approval, proposals will need to be located in an appropriate area classification (zone) to facilitate, where required, the appropriate development approvals.

6. Universal design and environmental sustainability

The Department seeks to encourage the incorporation of universal design principles and a minimum of a five star energy rating.

7. Apprentice employment

Proposals need to outline how they will achieve the State Government’s requirement that apprentices represent 10 per cent of the total workforce on the job (or the 20 per cent Indigenous worker requirement).

Additional criteria

The Department has been inundated by developers with sites to be considered and so a delayed response from the Department is no surprise. However, the Department has told us that the specific criteria it is looking for when considering sites are:

• Cost per dwelling including land not to exceed an average of $300,000.

• Looking for sites between six and 18 units of accommodation - preferably six to 12.

• Must meet five star energy rating - this is more of an issue with heating rather than cooling.

• Prefer two street frontage with a particular interest in main roads - they have no interest in long narrow sites.

• Must be near services such as schools, retail and public transport. It should be assumed that occupants won’t have access to private motor vehicles so sites need to be within walking distance of these services. Public transport must be regular. There can be relaxations on parking requirements as a result of residents not necessarily having access to private vehicles.

• Accessibility and adaptability for people with disabilities.

• Avoid having individual gardens that require tenant maintenance - no shared areas such as swimming pools and BBQs.

• The Department has special powers under the Integrated Planning Act (IPA) to allow changes to approved plans without going back to Council or public advertising so long as changes are “generally in accordance with the planning scheme”.

Moving forward

The criteria will be attractive to many landowners in the current market, particularly where an existing development approval is in place. If you have control of a site which you would like to discuss with the Department, contact David Bell or David Colenso.