In developing local approaches to implement your Housing Strategy you will need to consider:
- the particular housing needs of your local community, identified through your housing market analysis;
- the feasibility of a particular approach within the local context;
- the availability of financial resources and staff expertise and time, and whether the approach is the best use of these resources;
- the potential impact of the approach in relation to the overall aims and objectives of the strategy (and other alternative approaches);
- political support for any particular approach or, in the case of potential political opposition, whether there are strategies to address this;
- consistency with other actions identified in the strategy and council’s other plans and corporate objectives;
- potential unintended consequences of a particular action (Would a new planning requirement for a certain type of housing result in reduced development viability?)
Linking the Strategy to Council’s other strategic plans
Local housing strategies should be closely linked to Council’s other planning responsibilities and processes. It may not even be necessary to prepare a separate Local Housing Strategy. Rather, elements of the strategy can be incorporated within council’s existing strategic processes and plans, for instance:
- a local social planning process could include a focus on housing needs and responses
- a local environmental study to support a land-use planning process should include an analysis of potential residential land capacity and constraints; population trends and corresponding housing needs; sustainable residential design appropriate to the local context
- Council’s statutory land-use plans could provide legal support for local housing objectives, by incorporating them in the overall aims of the plan, and by including specific mechanisms to achieve them through the planning process
- a local economic strategy could develop mechanisms to attract appropriate workers or new residents through specific housing policies, such as housing for retirees, rural residential housing, or employee housing
- Council’s corporate plan may need to include provisions to support and operationalise housing related initiatives.
A combination of these approaches, tailored to the circumstances of each individual council, is likely to be appropriate. However, to ensure that Council’s specific housing objectives and initiatives are not ‘lost’, it is important to review and update the key elements of the housing strategy regularly.