Empty land next to historic house slated for social housing

Land bounded by Emus Rugby Club and Elephant Park was set to be offloaded as part of an auction for 94 Woodward Street.

But an amendment made to the plans by councillor David Mallard in October 2022 saw the 4800m2 area surrounding the building separated from the future sale.

Council instead decided to look into the possibility of building social housing on the land.

Eighteen months later and the council has asked for expressions of interest for its development.

"There is a pressing need to address social and affordable housing shortages in Australia," Cr Mallard said.

"Addressing housing affordability will take action from all tiers of government as well as non-government organisations and industry."

The council has set out a list of needs for anyone wishing to take on the development task.

These include:

EOIs will need to include but are not limited to:

Under the State Planning Policy affordable housing is aimed assisting very low income, low income or moderate-income households.

Housing is generally considered affordable if it costs less than 30 per cent of the gross household income.

"While we need federal and state governments to deliver more structural solutions, for Orange City Council's part we can look at using Council owned sites to contribute to addressing affordable housing pressures," Cr Mallard added.

"It's a relatively small site in terms of the magnitude of the issue but it together with the Redmond Place development east of the city is real action."

EOIs are open now and can be found at https://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/property/

EOIs close at 5pm on June 14, 2024.