Published on Friday, 11 October 2024 at …

Published on Friday, 11 October 2024 at 9:06:13 AM

The Town of Bassendean has called on the WA Local Government Association (WALGA) to draft advocacy positions for legislative reforms targeting land-banking practices to help alleviate the housing crisis, as well as addressing long-term unoccupied commercial properties to revitalise districts and boost economic prosperity. Mayor Cr Kathryn Hamilton presented the motions at the WALGA Conference on Wednesday 9 October.

The motion addressing land-banking aims to enhance rental and housing availability by advocating for local authorities to have the power to impose levies on long-term unoccupied residential properties and prevent the premature demolition of habitable homes. The proposed advocacy measures include prohibiting the demolition of habitable housing unless a development application (DA) has been approved, enforcing strict time limits for project commencement and completion on such applications, allowing local authorities to impose penalty fees in addition to differential rates on vacant land where development timelines are not met, and creating a mandatory register of unoccupied residential properties, enabling local governments to apply incremental rates or levies on properties that remain unoccupied long-term.

With the goal of revitalising districts and boosting economic prosperity, the Town put forward an additional motion to expand WALGA’s advocacy position on differential rates. The motion seeks to advocate to grant local governments the authority to apply differential rates on long-term unoccupied commercial properties and require owners to demonstrate that their properties are commercially habitable, receive regular maintenance, remain connected to essential services, undergo periodic compliance checks, and have a plan for redevelopment or operational use. The motion also proposed that local governments may offer exemptions from differential rates if the property is part of an approved activation program aimed at bringing it back into use.

Both motions were overwhelmingly supported and endorsed at the WALGA 2024 Annual General Meeting. WALGA will now prepare advocacy positions on behalf of the local government sector for the state government to investigate legislative reforms that deliver on the notice of motion’s intent.

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