Page 1530 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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The development tables in the Territory Plan specify what uses are permitted in a particular zone and what uses are prohibited. Permitted uses in the community facilities zone include childcare centres, community activity centres and education establishments. Equally permitted are residential care accommodation, supportive housing and retirement villages. These uses are all permitted if they meet the Territory Plan definition of that use.
The development tables also specify that uses such as boarding houses, multi-unit housing and single-dwelling housing are prohibited in the community facilities zone. Also prohibited are many commercial uses, as well as industrial uses. Some suburb precinct codes also specify some uses that are usually permitted as being prohibited on certain blocks.
This ensures that not every block of CFZ land is used for the same purpose. Ms Lawder is not correct in implying that social housing can or will be provided on every bit of CFZ land across the ACT. CFZ land is used, as its name and objectives set out, for a range of purposes that benefit the community.
I would like to clarify what type of development constitutes “supportive housing”. The Territory Plan definition of supportive housing is:
… the use of land for residential accommodation for persons in need of support, which is managed by a Territory approved organisation that provides a range of support services such as counselling, domestic assistance and personal care for residents as required. Although such services must be able to be delivered on site, management and preparation may be carried out on site or elsewhere. Housing may be provided in the form of self-contained dwellings. The term does not include a retirement village or student accommodation.
Common terminology for supportive housing includes aged persons units, community housing and social housing. Public housing is a type of social housing, and therefore supportive housing. This definition has been in place since 2003, except for a change made in 2011 with variation 302 to specify that the term does not include retirement village or student accommodation.
To be clear, social housing, such as public housing, is only permitted in the CFZ zone if it meets the Territory Plan definition of supportive housing. The same applies to retirement village or residential care accommodation. These uses are only permitted in the CFZ zone if they meet the relevant definition in the Territory Plan. If any of these forms of development are determined to be multi-unit housing and not supportive housing, retirement village or residential care accommodation, they are not permitted on community facility zoned sites.
In the case of the current public housing proposals, the developments meet the Territory Plan definition of supportive housing because (1) they are for residential accommodation; (2) they are for persons in need of support; (3) the support is managed by a territory-approved organisation; (4) the support can be provided on or off site; and (5) they are not retirement villages or student accommodation.
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