Future of Over 55s housing policy in doubt

From AboutSeniors

What You Should Know - By Frank Morris - Retirement Housing and Aged Care

UPDATE: Future of Over 55s housing policy in doubt

The New South Wales (NSW) Government could dump the controversial State Environment Planning Policy No 5 - SEPP 5 for short. A government review will look at all aspects of housing for the aged and disabled. In all probability the current SEPP 5 will be dumped.

Frank Morris comments: The problem is not the policy but the way its been watered down. SEPP 5 was introduced in 1982 to create uniformity in the construction of medium density retirement housing for Over 55s. It has been comprehensively amended over the years. The last amendment in 1998 opened the floodgate for the development of "marginalised" retirement housing in prime residential zones at the whim of "opportunistic" developers. The original SEPP 5 laid down some of the criteria for continuing-care villages that provided long-term commitment to residents. Some of the best medium density retirement villages in Australia were built in residential zones in the 1990s, thanks to SEPP 5. "(These guidelines) covered care/support facilities, staffing and manner of operation," reported The Valuer & Land Economist Journal in 1993. SEPP 5 was also the basis for a local council to assess a new village.

Background
SEPP 5 is unique to NSW and applies to all of the State. It was the basis for a local council to assess a new village.

The policy also laid down some essential criteria for the extent of care and support facilities.

Introduced in 1982 SEPP 5 was also an attempt by the State government to both counter local government opposition to purpose-built retirement villages and to lay down certain development standards and guidelines for assessing proposed aged housing projects, writes one public housing official at the time.

The policy had three aims:

• TO enable development for the purpose of housing for aged or disabled persons throughout the NSW, to increase availability of that type of accommodation, and to provide a wider choice of residential accommodation.

• TO establish development standards.

• TO ensure that applicants and councils take into consideration the availability of support services for aged and disabled persons.

In many respects SEPP 5, before the Carr Government tampered with it, increased "the choice of living environments" for the aged.

In 1993, leading private operator Mr Tony Baldwin, told the College of Law that SEPP 5 was "one of the planning instruments directed to achieving urban consolidation."

Baldwin said it did this by "permitting increased density, encouraging more economic use of urban land and offering an opportunity of increased housing choice."

NSW Election pledge: SEPP 5 to go says Brogden
NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden has pledged to scrap the two contentious State Environmental Planning Policies - SEPP 5 and SEPP 53 - if he wins the top job after next year's State elections on March 22.

Brogden told the ABC television program Stateline (November 29) that he plans to abolish urban consolidation in the suburbs and along the coast.

"We will strike a balance between consolidation and growth where appropriate," he told the program.

"Under Labor we've seen the destruction of neighbourhood character," he says.

"What Bob Carr won't do is take his responsibilities for more high rise and more medium density and the loss of character. He wants to keep blaming the Federal Government for that problem."

Both SEPP 5 (medium density development) and SEPP 53 (high rise development) have been raising hackles in mainly Sydney's northern suburbs since last year.

While SEPP 53 is an issue, it is State Environmental Planning Policy No 5 - housing for aged or disabled persons - that needs to be rescued.

Since it was amended in the late 1990s, SEPP 5 has fallen apart at the seams. The watered down version masterminded by the Carr Government has contributed to overdevelopment - for the wrong reasons - becoming "an aggravated issue" in Sydney's northern suburbs.

For the past two years, the Government has defended the indefensible.

Developers are permitted to build medium density housing for the over 55s in areas where they were once banned.

"Many of the developments have been criticised because "they are not faithful to older people's needs."

Reproduced by Permission of AboutSeniors

Link to Frank Morris

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