The Toowoomba Regional Housing Strategy, developed over nine months, has shed light on crucial aspects of the housing market in Toowoomba. The strategy aims to address affordability, diversity, and certainty in housing supply for the projected demand across all market sectors in the region.
Toowoomba Regional Housing Strategy Unveils Key Findings and Recommendations
The comprehensive study focused on achieving specific objectives:
- Describing the Current Housing Market: Understanding the existing state of housing in Toowoomba.
- Identifying Future Influences: Recognising issues that may impact housing delivery in the future.
- Determining Key Actions for Council: Outlining actions for maintaining affordability and managing demand-supply mismatches.
Key Findings
- Affordability Challenges in Specific Localities: Areas with lower average household incomes, such as Clifton-Greenmount and Wilsonton, face affordability issues.
- Undersupply of Affordable Dwellings: Many localities lack affordable housing for low-income households, except Millmerran and Jondaryan.
- Rise in Mortgagee and Renter Households: An increase in mortgage and renter households hints at potential housing affordability issues in certain sectors and localities.
- Ageing Demographic Profile: Toowoomba’s ageing population may lead to increased housing affordability challenges in the future.
Localities Planning for Ageing Residents
To address the ageing demographic, specific areas need to plan for accommodation for older residents:
- Retirement type accommodation: Clifton-Greenmount, Crows Nest-Rosalie, Highfields.
- Aged care accommodation: Darling Heights, Drayton-Harristown, Toowoomba West, Wilsonton.
- Retirement type and aged care accommodation: Pittsworth, Rangeville.
Diversity in Housing Products
Toowoomba faces a lack of diversity in housing products due to historical development patterns. The region has seen a rise in detached dwellings, particularly in urban growth areas.
Imbalance in Housing Supply and Demand
While there is currently no issue with quantity, Toowoomba Region is forecasted to grow by 32,830 households by 2031, with variations across localities. Infrastructure planning poses a challenge in managing substantial oversupply and undersupply in certain areas.
Growing Resource Sector and Housing Impact
The growth of the resource sector in the Surat Basin poses challenges and opportunities for Toowoomba. The Council needs to monitor the impacts on affordability and accommodation for both resident and non-resident workers.
Housing Affordability Challenges Beyond Council’s Control
The Council recognises external factors impacting housing affordability, such as the growth of the resource sector and state-level planning policies. The uncertainty in the state’s planning framework adds complexity to the situation.
The Toowoomba Regional Housing Strategy provides a roadmap for the Council to address current and future challenges in the housing market.
The findings highlight the need for targeted actions to ensure affordability, diversity, and certainty in housing supply for the growing demands in Toowoomba.
