Patricia Gill, Denmark Bulletin
The upper level of heritage-listed Edinboro House is set for a $2.3 million redevelopment for 10 ‘micro’ apartments to ease Denmark’s shortage of rental housing.
The charity, Denmark Futures Ltd, has an option to purchase the property expiring in October and awaits the outcome of Department of Communities funding applications for the project.
The upper floor of Edinboro House, 31 South Coast Highway, also known as 31 on the Terrace, operates as a boarding house but requires Shire of Denmark development approval to be redeveloped as multiple dwellings for up to 22 people.
Economist Juliet Grist of Denmark Futures said the project to create ‘micro’ apartments – one bedroom – at Edinboro House had been underway almost two years.
Two housing forums in 2021 at which Denmark’s dire shortage of affordable housing and rental accommodation had been revealed had prompted the project.
Along with Denmark Futures, the Denmark Community Resource Centre and Bricks and Mortar Housing Association had worked on solutions to the housing crisis.
Residential properties being let as holiday accommodation and the high cost of the few rental properties available are factors in the housing shortage.
The decline in rental properties over the past decade has not been matched with an expansion in rental stock while the town’s population has expanded since 2006 from 4511 to 6310.
From 2011-2021 available rental properties have dropped from 588 to 484 with more than 100 households displaced.
With 44 per cent of Denmark’s population older than 55, there are scarce options available for potential tenants who comprise this vulnerable section of the community, particularly singles.
Denmark Futures is also working on plans to develop two and three-bedroom new social houses for rental in Denmark so as to offer a diversity of rental options.
‘Wholesale’ investors, a person or entity who has or controls more than $10 million in assets, would be targeted as donors to the project.
So far, the private sector cannot develop social rental accommodation except through a charity.
But Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute suggests private sector involvement should be as a way of extending, and not replacing, public subsidy to house low-income earners and those with special needs.
Ms Grist said because Edinboro House was already built as a project it would be completed quicker, possibly by mid next year.
She said Denmark Futures had spoken to Housing Minister John Carey in March last year about the project the planning of which had been a long journey.
In a few weeks, Denmark Futures would hold a community briefing about the Edinboro House project.
Ms Grist described the micro apartments as containing a kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom and lounge space in a small footprint.
Denmark Co-operative has called on members to donate their annual rebate to Denmark Futures to ease homelessness.
Ms Grist said almost all of the cost of the Edinboro House redevelopment project planning so far had been donated.
Plans are for tenant car parking to be off site.
This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 29 June 2023.
