Council determines future of North Street units
Lockyer Valley Regional Council has resolved to invite tenders to purchase and remove the former community housing units on North Street, Gatton before surrendering trusteeship of the land back to the State.
It comes after preliminary independent quotes to bring the two unit blocks up to current building codes came to more than $1M.
Councillors voted unanimously at today’s Ordinary Council Meeting to remove the assets and hand back the land, after an agreement with the State to upgrade the existing buildings was unable to be reached.
Mayor Tanya Milligan said it was a “sensible and responsible decision” that had been made after exhausting all other avenues.
“We care about people who are struggling through the housing crisis, just as we care about those dealing with cancer, or domestic and family violence,” she said.
“But we're not the level of government charged with the responsibility of managing those issues. It doesn't mean we don't care - it means we understand our primary responsibilities to our ratepayers and are focused on them,” she added.
Council has been seeking a resolution to the matter since 2020, when the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works retracted its original offer to take back ownership of the units after determining they did not meet current compliance and housing standards.
Mayor Milligan said despite Council’s many requests to the Department to change its stance, bring the units up to code and manage them to help address the housing crisis, the Department would not be swayed.
“Housing is a State responsibility and Council’s role is to advocate on behalf of the community, which is exactly what Council has been actively doing for the past several years,” she said.
“We have liaised closely with both the State Government, and more recently with several community housing providers to assess the feasibility of bringing the units up to the required building standards for community housing, and everyone agrees it isn’t viable.
“As a Council, we can't justify spending such significant funds on this when we have so many other core responsibilities the wider community expects us to meet.
“As we made clear in our most recent Budget, our focus is on improving our roads and delivering cost-effective services that benefit our whole community.”
The land at 11 North Street, Gatton was previously used as community housing under a funded program arrangement with the Queensland Government.
When the National Regulatory System for Community Housing was brought in, Council elected not to apply for registration and withdrew from the community housing system, as did many other councils.
Mayor Milligan said any future use of the land should be of genuine benefit to the community and be cost-effective to maintain.
ENDS
