Campaigns and Research

STRATA RENEWAL: SOLVING THE PUZZLE

The Urban development Institute of Australia (UDIA) NSW submitted its response to the review of strata and community title legislation, Making NSW No. 1 Again: Shaping Future Communities, Strata and Community Title Law Reform Discussion Paper. In our response, UDIA NSW advocates for a new model for the dissolution of strata schemes. The model was developed in collaboration with Strata Communities Australia NSW and the Owners Corporation Network. The strata renewal model is based on the preparation of a Strata Renewal Plan, which details the terms for the sale of a strata scheme and the collective sale of the property. The model enables owners to be involved in the process of renewing the scheme and requires 80 percent majority agreement for the plan to proceed.

UDIA NSW believes that this model would enable residents within a scheme to take full advantage of the value of their lot as well as aid in the achievement of economic and environmental goals set by the NSW Government.

Download Strata Renewal: Solving the Puzzle

Download Revitalising our Cities: A Joint Statement on Strata Renewal

Building Blocks

Building Blocks is the follow-up campaign to "Let's Build a Better NSW' and part of a suite of policy and research UDIA NSW is working on. Building Blocks continues to highlight that the NSW Government needs to increase the supply of housing in NSW to meet both current and future housing demands.

At present there are 27,000 houses developed annually in NSW. To meet the needs of our growing population, this figure needs to be a minimum of 40,000. Building Blocks identifies how the NSW Government can increase land and housing supply in Sydney.

Building Blocks identifies and prioritises commercially viable urban release projects. UDIA NSW considers there are a number of crucial factors that are needed to ‘unlock' land in and around the release areas:

New release areas;
Critical infrastructure requirements;
Cost of critical infrastructure;
Proposed methods and responsibilities for financing infrastructure;
Number of lots opened up by land release;
Potential Government revenue from stamp duty and GST increases as a result of growing land release in Sydney.

With Building Blocks, UDIA NSW has identified how the NSW Government can deliver more and affordable homes with the necessary infrastructure to support the growth.

Download the Building Blocks report

GETTING OUR ACT TOGETHER

UDIA NSW has advocated for comprehensive planning reform. Now that the State Government has committed to a rewrite of the Planning Act, there is a valuable opportunity to return certainty and confidence to developer investment in this state.

UDIA NSW has identified four main components required in the new Planning Act:

Strategic Planning
Plan Making
Assessment and Determination
Implementation and Management

The plan proposed by UDIA NSW maximises the opportunity we have to shape the future of planning and the way development is treated in the future.

Getting our Act Together

Let's Build a Better NSW

‘Let's Build a Better NSW' is a campaign initiated by UDIA NSW during the 2011 State Election. The campaign was started to highlight that NSW simply isn't building enough homes to meet the needs of our growing population.

NSW needs to build at least 40,000 homes a year to meet demand. Currently, less than 30,000 a year are being built. The situation is so bad that fewer homes are being built now than at any time in the last 50 years.

The key message of Lets Build a Better NSW' is that the NSW Government should be focussed on:

Delivering more homes for the people of NSW;
Making homes affordable; and
Delivering the infrastructure required to support growth.

Visit www.buildabetternsw.com.au

Download the State of the Land 2012 report

Download the Global housing survey

Building Up

Building Up is the second part of a suite of policy and research UDIA NSW is working on. Building Up focuses on the identification of suitable sites in existing centres that have the potential to be developed if barriers are lifted. Building Up identifies what improvements can be made to the planning and development process that would facilitate urban renewal to occur in existing centres and established suburbs in general.

‘Building Up identifies and prioritises commercially viable centres. UDIA NSW considers there are a number of crucial factors that are needed to ‘unlock' land in existing centres:

A flexible planning system;
Incentives, such as FSR/Height concessions, to entice developers to build;
Changes to strata scheme management;

With Building Up, UDIA NSW has identified how the NSW Government can deliver more and affordable homes with the necessary mechanisms to aid a more efficient and equitable approval system to allow for urban renewal to occur.

Alternative Infrastructure Financing