NORTHERN BEACHES COUNCIL
- LOCAL HOUSING STRATEGY-
It is time we all need to bust a few myths:
- Myth 1. Higher density creates affordable housing. In fact quite the opposite. Anywhere where housing has has become more dense housing prices have gone up not down. Look at Frenchs Forest as a perfect example as prices of houses have skyrocketed with the increase in density: https://www.realestate.com.au/neighbourhoods/frenchs-forest-2086-nsw
- Myth 2. Big houses and apartment blocks with no greenery, crammed together are what many people want to live in. Most people want to live in homes which connect them with the beauty of green and natural environments. This can be done by having smaller homes connected with nature
- Myth 3. Affordable housing has to be cheap, nasty, and high-rise. Actually cheap, nasty high-risers which no body wants to live in just puts up the price of other housing stock. In fact one of the best forms of making homes cheaper is using co-housing: https://stillpittwaters.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/could-cohousing-work-in-pittwater/
Plus what is worse it has presented us with a housing strategy which is short on facts - like higher-density and medium-density, undefined (ie number of floors, floor space, number of bedrooms, land size, parking requirements???) apart from an impressionistic diagram, and uses zoning types like R2 and E4 which are currently different in different former Council areas. Which means that we are uncertain of what we will get. We are being treated as mushrooms - kept in the dark and piled with you-know-what.
And then you present us with your own myth-buster - which are backed up with no facts at all https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/council/news/myth-busting-local-housing-strategy?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210226%20-%20Community%20Engagement%20News&utm_content=20210226%20-%20Community%20Engagement%20News+Preview+CID_e38b709f9d02677040f54a2
This is highly unethical of any Council to do such a thing on a document that we are meant to have our free say on. I'm totally gobsmack that our NBC has done this! This looks like NBC siding with property developers, as these so called "myth-busters" are their arguments!!!
Regards,
Janet Forrester