YWCA wants to bar third party appeals to approved social housing, after Ainslie development stalled

YWCA Canberra's development application for 10 supported accommodation units for older women experiencing poverty and women fleeing violence was initially approved in April 2021.

The agency planned to demolish two of three existing buildings at the Ainslie Block 1, Section 87 site, remove 15 trees and construct two single-storey buildings.

The application also sought to vary the Crown lease to allow for the units.

In October 2021, following a review filed by three members of the Ainslie Residents' Association, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered approval of the application be reversed.

The tribunal said the proposal did not meet various rules and criteria of the community and facility-zone development and multi-unit housing development codes.

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The agency has lodged another development application for the site in February this year, which is pending approval.

In submissions to the ACT budget and the ACT Planning System Review and Reform YWCA recommended third parties be "precluded from appealing previously approved social and community housing development applications that have met the applicable requirements of the development application process".

"While the right to appeal decisions of government is a function of democracy, we believe the administrative review processes related to planning and development are uniquely susceptible to vexatious claims," the agency's budget submission states.

"The process is one that can be gamed by those who are motivated by delaying or scuttling approved proposals, particularly for social or affordable housing developments, rather than upholding a genuine interest in due process."

Expanding on the issue in their submission to the planning review, the agency said if third party appeals are not limited, housing proposals made by the community or social housing sectors "will be subject to routine and costly objections heightening the risk attached ... and jeopardising the sector's willingness to contribute to new supply".

Ainslie Residents' Association president Ian Hubbard last year said the association supported social housing and was keen to help YWCA find a suitable site for its development.

"The group would like to meet with the YWCA to [also] discuss reactivating the site in line with its concessional lease purpose for childcare and a community activities centre," he said at the time.

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