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Community Benefit Sharing: A Path to Equitable Development
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SGS Economics and Planning Marcus Spiller Affordable Housing

Social and affordable housing contributions: Developers must play their part in social housing

Insights

Housing

Social and affordable housing should be seen as essential infrastructure for successful communities and developers have an important role to play. When the now abandoned Social and Affordable Housing Contribution was announced in Victoria, respected property players who in other forums had freely acknowledged that development contributions for social housing had a part to play went to ground. Instead, we heard the party line from the peaks that social housing is a community-wide problem demanding a community-wide response and not an opportunistic tax on those who build the houses we need.
Sydney Morning Herald article featuring Ellen Witte

‘Gut-wrenching’: Hunt for affordable home couldn’t outrun climate change

Media

Out-priced city dwellers have been moving to the regions but, in doing so, these homeowners have exposed themselves to a different problem – the cost of increased climate change risks. Director and partner at SGS Economics and Planning, Ellen Witte, believes it’s a problem politicians need to fix. “There is a big failure in both the climate change area and the housing area,” Ms Witte said. At the moment there are no clear rules on where to build new residential development in a way that plans for and mitigates climate change risks at any government level, she explained. “At a local level...
SGS Economics and Planning How much is a good pub worth Choice analysis

The John Curtin Hotel: How much is a good pub worth?

Insights

Arts and Culture

The John Curtin Hotel on Lygon Street in Carlton is being sold to developers who will, most likely, demolish it to make way for apartments. While it isn’t contentious that the Melbourne metropolitan community needs more housing, the sale of The Curtin begs the question – are apartments really the highest and best use of this site? Would the gain in housing warrant the extinction of a storied pub which hosted the union gatherings, including the drinking feats of Bob Hawke, for generations?
SGS Economics and Planning rental affordability report image

Low-income households under extreme rental stress nationwide; many renters worse off than before COVID-19 pandemic, shows report

Insights

Housing

The Rental Affordability Index (RAI) 2021 exposes the increasing unaffordability of rental properties across Australia for lower-income households and shows that many renters are worse off than before the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently no affordable rental housing in Australia for single pensioners, pensioner couples, people on JobSeeker, and single part-time working parents also on benefits, apart from in regional South Australia. Rental prices continue to soar across the regions...