Decision Maker: Council
Decision status: Recommendations Determined
Original motion moved by Councillor Ellsmore,
seconded by Councillor Scott.
It is
resolved that:
(A)
Council
note that:
(i)
traditional
boarding houses continue to play an important role in providing relatively
affordable housing in the City of Sydney, and in neighbouring Local Government
Areas including the Inner West and Waverley. Traditional boarding houses tend
to be established in older buildings with a long history of use as a boarding
house, featuring small rooms and shared facilities;
(ii)
in the
City of Sydney there are an estimated 294 registered boarding houses with an
estimated total of 4,031 rooms;
(iii)
the
number of traditional boarding houses are reducing over time, with development
applications approved to convert 14 boarding houses to other housing since
2013, and the most recent City of Sydney Housing Audit 2023 finding that 64
boarding house rooms had been removed from the city’s non-private dwelling
stock in the twelve months to June 2023; and
(iv)
in
2023, the City of Sydney Council refused two applications for boarding house
conversions in Paddington. There is currently an appeal in the Land and
Environment Court by the proponent in relation to the refusal by the City of
Sydney of the Development Application to convert the boarding houses at 58-60
and 62-64 Selwyn Street Paddington into four dwellings. These boarding houses
currently provide 32 rooms between them;
(B)
Council
note that Council has been exploring opportunities to increase protections for
traditional boarding houses;
(C)
The
City’s Affordable and Diverse Housing Fund provides grants to support a wide
range of affordable and diverse rental housing in the LGA, including boarding
houses and our Affordable Housing contributions program already enables
Community Housing Providers to use funds for boarding houses;
(D)
Council
note that:
(i)
although
they are required to be registered, traditional older stock boarding houses are
not formally considered ‘affordable housing’, because there are no legal
requirements that rooms be rented affordably. With Sydney rents at record
highs, rising 13 per cent in one year alone, one of the key risks for
traditional boarding house tenants is eviction as a result of unaffordable rent
increases;
(ii)
the
City’s advocacy led to NSW Government changes under the Housing SEPP (2021)
which ensure that any new boarding house project must be managed by a Community
Housing Provider in perpetuity and rented to eligible households at affordable
rents;
(iii)
the
Affordable Rental Housing SEPP Guidelines for Retention of Existing Affordable
Rental Housing 2009 (the Guidelines) that the City must assess Development
Applications against are outdated, do not prevent the loss of boarding houses
and do not consider the current housing affordability crisis. For example, a
developer can argue that a boarding house is not financially viable to
maintain;
(iv)
following
a Lord Mayoral Minute in October 2023, the Lord Mayor wrote to the NSW
Government to request they:
(a)
implement
the recommendations of the report on the statutory review of the Boarding
Houses Act 2012 and consult with Local Government before making legislative
changes;
(b)
immediately
review the Housing SEPP provisions for the retention of existing affordable
rental housing, and the Guidelines including the viability provisions, in
consultation with Local Government to allow for a more balanced assessment of
DAs resulting in a loss of boarding houses;
(c)
review
the circumstances in which contributions are to be paid when development
results in a loss of affordable accommodation so the loss is appropriately
mitigated and contributions allocated in the area the housing is lost, in
consultation with Local Government;
(d)
provide
funding for boarding house owners to bring stock up to contemporary standards,
noting that any such funding should only be provided where owners do not
increase rents beyond affordable rates; and
(e)
include
requirements for financial compensation of displaced residents where a DA has
been approved for a change of use from a boarding house;
(v)
this
year, the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for
Planning and Public Spaces and Acting Minister for Housing responded to the
Lord Mayor confirming that the NSW Government is progressing the
recommendations of the 2020 statutory review and is reviewing the Guidelines,
however no timeframe was provided for this;
(vi)
the
Paddington Society is calling for an immediate moratorium on rent increases for
boarding houses, to support boarding houses tenants, many of whom are older, on
very low incomes, are living with a disability, and face few or no other
housing options if evicted;
(vii) in 2023, Council resolved to call on the NSW
Government to prevent unlimited rent increases;
(viii) the Paddington Society is also calling on
the City of Sydney to purchase boarding houses at risk of being lost using
affordable housing developer contributions;
(E)
the
Lord Mayor be requested to write to the NSW Minister for Customer Service, who
administers the Boarding Houses Act to again call on the NSW Government to
implement the recommendations in the statutory review of the Act and to consult
with councils before making changes; and
(F)
the
Chief Executive Officer be requested to provide advice to Council about whether
there are further potential amendments to Council planning instruments to
protect against the loss of boarding houses, including through specific
provisions in relation to the draft no net dwelling loss/dwelling retention
provisions which are due to go on exhibition later this year, once the NSW
Government reviews its guidelines.
Amended motion carried unanimously.
X086659
Report author: Erin Cashman
Publication date: 24/06/2024
Date of decision: 24/06/2024
Decided at meeting: 24/06/2024 - Council
Accompanying Documents: