The Problem – Housing.
As we hurtle around the state we come across many communities with the potential to supercharge job growth. The problem is naturally…. availability and affordability of housing.
Councils are hard wired to work towards economic development via assisting new businesses and supporting existing companies. Council Economic Development Strategies have historically focussed on skills / training + data / information + contacts + practical support with permits etc to create an enabling environment for business.
In effect, Councils have been competing to attract new businesses by ‘rolling out the red carpet, not the red tape’ as they say in Ararat (Dr Tim Harrison, CEO Ararat Rural City Council, is a dab hand at the snappy one-liners and knows how to get things done).
Some Councils have now flipped the watch and focus on the barrier – housing.
Initiatives in Ararat, Mansfield, Warrnambool and Alpine (to name a few) are working to identify the extent to which an abundant supply of affordable housing could become a critical enabler that will drive economic and social development.
A Comprehensive and Considered Approach
Hats off to Swan Hill Rural City Council, Economic Development staff team which is driving a long term, industry engagement and community involvement process with a target of building 500 new houses in the next four / five years.
Around 80 new homes are built each year across this municipality – so a target of 100-120 is a big step up for a rurally isolated community with limited capacity in the construction sector. This is all way above the state government target of around 53 homes per year by the way.
The Economic Development team have not just plucked this 500 number from thin air.
In November 2023 they convened a Housing Summitt with 120 people focussed on the extent to which housing can drive economic and social development.
By February Council was promoting the idea of a ‘taskforce’ type group and by May nearly 40 people from the construction, development, employment, real estate and service sectors were in a room working out how to collaborate; using the current ideas, land, money and common sense already available in the community.
The group is called Housing Action: Greater Swan Hill and revolves around the idea of smallish working groups tackling tasks on behalf of the whole group. The initial plan for these small groups included working on local investment models, auditing available land, surveying business to gather more data re jobs / demand, growing the construction sector and getting better at securing grants.
It’s early days, but the sense that a whole group of skilled people can work together on a very ambitious target like 500 new homes is very positive.
And There Are Vacant Jobs Galore.
We interviewed employers, service providers, developers and real estate agents in preparing and designing the November Housing Summit. Agriculture, manufacturing, services and mining sectors are all going bonkers across the region. The stories are incredible – the lengths to which employers will go to find housing to help people move to the region and take up new jobs indicates a mix of ingenuity and desperation.
Role for Councils?
So, we think there are clues here for Councils.
Bringing the key stakeholders together with a focus on ingenuity and self-reliance in a collaborative environment that is all about housing might just be the new approach to Economic Development for Councils.
Turning housing from a barrier to an enabler is a long haul, frustrating and time consuming process for a community but it might also be the defining driver of economic and social development for the next couple of decades.
