Local Affordable Housing Plan Toolkit:

Local Affordable Housing Plans (LAHPs) can be a key support for the South Australian Government’s strategy to create more affordable housing outcomes in cooperation with all partners involved in the planning, financing, and delivery of affordable housing and related services. LAHPs harness the local knowledge, insights, and expertise of local government to identify housing needs and issues facing their communities to drive the development of local solutions.

Although the development of an LAHP by local government is not mandatory, benefits can include:
• Attracting workers to the municipality or region
• Reduction of housing stress
• Positive labour market effects
• Alignment with overarching State and regional development strategies.

LAHPs should be informed by, and used alongside, any State or regional strategies or policies relating to planning, infrastructure, and economic development. Where housing targets are included in State and regional strategies, they should be addressed in an LAHP.

This LAHP Toolkit has been produced by the SA Housing Authority to assist councils in developing comprehensive housing plans for their communities to support the supply of appropriate and affordable housing. The toolkit provides relevant resources and puts forward a clear, 10-Step process for the development of LAHPs, recognizing that each LGA faces a unique set of housing issues that require locally designed solutions as part of broader local and regional strategic planning.

Local government plays a vital role in the provision of housing. Decisions made at the local level have a direct impact on the quantity, quality, and affordability of housing supply within a particular geographic area.

Key local government functions such as initiating land rezoning, development approval, and infrastructure delivery have impacts on housing location, density, and cost, as does the determination of how surplus government land within a local area should be used.

Local government is also in the best position to identify the context in which housing is delivered. By regularly interacting with members of the community, local government representatives can identify important housing-related issues before they appear in statistics used by State and Federal Government departments. Therefore, developing a Local Affordable Housing Plan (LAHP) allows relevant stakeholders to remain agile as housing issues arise and needs change in the community.

LAHPs are created with input from the community and should guide how housing in the municipality will develop over time. They should influence where and how housing will be delivered to support changes in the local population, such as age, employment, and household structure. An LAHP template based on the 10-step process is included at Appendix A.

While no LAHP timeframe is recommended in this toolkit, a 10-year timeframe can be regarded as a useful starting point when considering an appropriate time span for the delivery of affordable housing.

This toolkit can be used in its entirety to deliver a complete LAHP or steps within the toolkit can be actioned to support the development of other strategic planning documents for Council as required for statutory purposes.

The diagram on the next page shows the 10 steps to developing a LAHP with supporting actions for each step.

There are wide-ranging and positive impacts of LAHPs. Increased population diversity within the municipality
• In some municipalities, workers will travel from outside the local area to their place of work, before returning home again at the end of the day.

• A LAHP can put forward strategies to deliver an attractive and affordable housing mix, allowing workers to be able to move closer to their place of employment, become participative community members, reduce the environmental impact of the commute deliver local economic benefits, and create more inclusive communities.

Higher workforce productivity
• A diverse mix of housing enables employers to retain and attract labor.
• Allowing key worker groups (such as childcare, healthcare, police and firefighting services, retail, and hospitality) to live near their place of employment (reducing the commute) facilitates community development and can positively impact productivity for employers.