Akuna sale may be around $4m p3
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Jazz Alley mural painted over p11
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17 JUNE 2023
Housing targets may be forced on Kiama Kiama Council will likely be forced to green light the construction of more new homes, as the State Government cites measures to address the housing affordability crisis. NSW Government Planning Minister Paul Scully – whose electorate of Wollongong borders Kiama – says every council in the state will have to “do their fair share” to help NSW reach its target of building 315,000 new homes over the next five years. The new initiative, first reported in the Daily Telegraph, could affect the preparation of Council’s Local Housing Strategy, which is long delayed and due to be made public in July. The Minister’s comments come as fresh analysis shows Kiama is in the midst of its own housing crisis – there is not enough supply to meet demand, what is available is not affordable, and mortgage stress is becoming more common and severe. The new insights were provided exclusively to The Bugle by AEC Group, who was recently engaged by Kiama Council to provide input into its Housing Strategy through a Housing Supply and Feasibility Assessment
for the local government area (LGA). AEC Group projects demand for housing in Kiama will almost double between now and 2041, at the same time the population is set to skyrocket to more than 30,000 people. Population forecasts show that an extra 7,000 people will call Kiama home, this is a 126 per cent increase on previous projections. These numbers state, very clearly, that Kiama Council does not have enough zoned land to meet this future demand. This situation will exacerbate the Kiama housing market, where the current median house price ($1.5 million) is 16 times the current median household income ($95,368). AEC Group estimates that to be able to afford mortgage repayments on a $1.5 million home, a household income of $220,000 is required – more than $100,000 higher than the average. Off the back of these numbers, The Bugle spoke to locals about their own experiences in the housing market. One local, who did not wish to be named, says the prospect of buying his own home
in Kiama “has never seemed obtainable”. “Even finding an affordable rental property has been a challenge in itself, which means I now rent in Nowra and drive to Kiama for work every day…I’ve never met anyone my age that owns a home in the LGA, the closest is Nowra,” he says. A local small business owner, who also did not want to be named, says they are considering moving interstate because rent is so expensive. “We were probably about six months off from getting enough funds to purchase a property in Kiama, then COVID happened and prices went through the roof. So, we continue to rent,” they say. These sentiments appear to be echoed by current and aspiring homeowners across the LGA. The great Australian dream of owning property, particularly in one of ‘Australia’s most livable towns’ needs to become a reality. Necessary mechanisms need to be considered by our government so that the South Coast’s jewel in the crown remains atop and continues to shine well into the future.
People power blows windfarms north
A proposal to build up to 150 wind turbines off Kiama’s coast has been dashed in favour of a new location further north. BlueFloat Energy – the company behind the South Pacific Offshore Wind Project – has selected an alternative site to Kiama, which stretches 14 kilometres from Shellharbour to Clifton, north of Thirroul. The company had been investigating two sites, the other would have been between Kiama and Jervis Bay. The project will see up to 150 offshore wind turbines constructed, providing 1600MW of energy to the region which could power 825,000 homes. BlueFloat Energy Australian country manager Nick Sankey told ABC Illawarra that the company reviewed both locations, and that it preferred the northern site due to its proximity to Port Kembla as well as the NSW by Belinda Woodfield government’s declared re-
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newable energy zone. He added that BlueFloat will continue to refine exactly where it will construct the turbines throughout community consultation. Independent Kiama councillor Matt Brown told The Bugle that the change in plans was a win for residents of the Kiama LGA, which he says largely rejected the
development. Councillor Brown listed a handful of major concerns stemming from his own consultations with the community. One of those major concerns is how reliant the Kiama LGA is on tourism, and whether the introduction of large wind turbines would disturb the coastal scenery.
continued on p4
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