This week, Michele Adair, CEO of Housing Trust, joined the Traders in Purple team to discuss Springside Hill and the opportunities this brings to both of our organisations, and more importantly to you, the community. This will be our third project with Housing Trust, and we cannot wait to get started. If you’re sick and tired of hearing terms like “housing accord”, “housing crisis”, “housing affordability”, “housing supply” and “housing stress”, then chances are you worked hard to own your own home and have been living the Australian Dream for a number of years.

However, it is also pretty likely that you have friends or family who are not as fortunate as you and are desperate to stay in the area and are looking for that opportunity. More than half of locals in Kiama do not own their own home outright. The average cost of a home in Kiama is around 13 times the average income.

Around a quarter of homes in Kiama are rental properties. If you’re renting in Kiama, you’re spending more than one-third of your pay on rent. In a few short months there will be no affordable rental homes in Kiama. Zero. People who are renting want the opportunity to buy. And those that cannot afford to rent, who may be staying with friends or relatives, want the opportunity to leave home and live near their parents, not with them.

Our work with Housing Trust is not a gimmick. Traders in Purple is committed to a 25 per cent guarantee which is an opportunity for people that are currently locked out of the housing market to live at Springside Hill, and most importantly, to keep locals local. Subject to planning approval, Housing Trust will administer the community and affordable rental housing components of Springside Hill. This will significantly increase the amount of affordable rental housing in the area.

We launched our Springside Hill website in early February. We did so because feedback through our community research was clear - you wanted to know more about development projects as they are happening and have input into the process. The Springside Hill team have been responding to feedback, questions, and concerns from the community since day one and we will continue to do so.

You may not always love what we have to say but we are committed to providing you with information so you can be informed of the project and its progress. To date, more than 90% of feedback received from the website has been from people wanting more information about when the project will start construction, and when homes can be purchased.

Every day more than one person from the community asks us about pricing and timing of delivery. We are ecstatic at the positive response we have received, and we wish we could give you definitive answers!

However, at this point in time, the ball is in Kiama Council’s court. They are currently undertaking an assessment of our proposal and we hope to meet with them shortly to discuss next steps. Positive feedback and support from the community will be crucial over the coming months, so we encourage you to get involved and attend one of our community information sessions - details to be released shortly.

Ultimately, we want to be delivering beautiful homes and creating jobs for locals, as quickly as possible and your positive words and engagement will help. We understand that Council will be holding their dialogue on future growth in the coming months where they will ask the community its position on a number of proposals, including Springside Hill, which can be brought to market early and others that are longer term.

This will be an important time not only for our project, but for the community and those aspiring to live or rent a home in the area. Most importantly, it will be an opportunity for you to voice your support for Springside Hill