Best affordable housing design for Global Awards shortlisted
LONDON: The shortlist for the best affordable seniors housing design has been declared.
Over 250 designs have been considered by the awards secretariat. One of the finalists in this category is shown above.
As social housing wait lists get longer, homelessness increases and rents are being driven up by high interest rates, the need for more affordable housing is at crisis point right across NSW.
Including throughout Newcastle where latest forecasts show the population is set to increase by more than 40,000 residents by 2041 in the local government area, stimulating demand for almost 20,000 new homes.
The State Government has recently lodged a proposal with Newcastle City Council to help chip away at the affordable housing need, targeting Adamstown which continues to be a popular spot for development activity.
The NSW Land and Housing Corporation development will look to build a $13.5 million four-storey apartment block with frontages on the busy Brunker Rd and Teralba Rd.
The proposal would provide 25 self-contained one and two bedroom units aimed at people on low incomes who are unable to access suitable accommodation in the private rental market.
Planning documents indicate demand for social and affordable rental housing is increasing.
“An increasingly unaffordable private rental market for people on low incomes, responses to homelessness and fewer social housing vacancies have driven the growth in social housing wait lists,” it read.
“(There’s) around 51,000 households on the NSW social housing waiting list at 30 June 2022. Specifically, in the Newcastle allocation zone, the wait list for social housing is approximately 1770 with wait times between five and 10 years.”
The proposal details the current ground level housing units would be demolished to make way for the the new building, basement car parking would be available as well as the removal of 16 trees on the site to make way for “extensive landscaping”.
“The site is situated in an established medium to high density residential area which is undergoing significant change, with several recently constructed residential flat building and shop top housing developments of a similar scale within the Adamstown Renewal Corridor,” a planner said.
The Global Award winner will be announced in November in London. (Globals)
