There have been many ideas, FB shares, submissions and solutions offered in the last 2 years regarding the crisis that we face around housing affordability in our community. That is not to say our issues surrounding this are new. There have been initiatives over the years that have responded to needs by the private, charity and public sectors which have provided safe houses for domestic violence victims, affordable over 50’s villages (transportable homes) and social housing as examples.

However, it has not been enough to offset the impacts of Noosa’s desirability which has simply pushed land and property prices beyond the capacity of our key workers, low income retirees, sole parents and disadvantaged. As with many of our issues – the contributors are vast and multifaceted and the solutions need to be tailored to the particular sector, and comprise many initiatives to deliver the overall solution.

This is a much larger issue than statistics show due to a number of factors which we need to talk honestly about, pride and self-esteem. Many residents of all demographics and various income brackets do not speak about their hidden hardship of paying up to 80% of their income on rent or attaining the ‘great Australian dream’ of home ownership. This is creating a raft of stressors and costs to our people, our organisations and our community.

There is no one ‘quick fix’ solution to what is a multi-faceted issue. However, we can without doubt, address this challenge and I am committed to see this community look after its own. This takes your support, as community activism is much more than waving a placard or protesting. ‘Affordability’ is about strong, creative and diverse communities that lead the way by addressing shortfalls in systems in their own unique way. Let’s be bold.

Information and links provided in this discussion paper (located in the Document Library section on this page), I believe are sufficient for those that would like to better understand the ‘why’ and ‘why nots’ and the research undertaken. For those that would prefer to head straight to the ‘meaty bits’, directly underneath is a background and summary of suggestions that in combination with community ‘will’, provisions in the new Planning Scheme and determination, will see Noosa well on the way to resolving this crisis.

I look forward to your thoughts, suggestions and submissions or join our Facebook Noosa 360 Group Chat discussion and be part of the solution.

Warmest regards,

Sandy