YWCA Canberra have been seeking permission since 2020 to build housing in Ainslie for vulnerable women who may have experienced domestic and family violence – and from today, these women will soon have shelter.

The YHomes Ainslie development is planned to house older women on modest incomes and women with children escaping domestic violence in the Canberra community.

The ACT Minister for Planning and Land Management Mick Gentleman MLA has today, Wednesday 29 June, signed off on the Ainslie development proposal under call-in powers, after the initial proposal was overturned on appeal by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal last year.

The appeal was lodged by a group of Ainslie residents, after the YWCA’s development application was approved by the independent planning and land authority and received an assessment process, which included community consultation.

The second development application has been approved by the Minister, after YWCA revised the design and lodged an application for nine units in February this year.

Mr Gentleman said the planning system “can and should” be used to facilitate housing for vulnerable community members.

“After careful consideration of the concerns raised by members of the community, I have used my call-in powers to approve this project and enable construction of these supported housing units to begin as soon as possible,” he said.

“We have imposed a number of conditions on the development, including measures to safeguard protected trees on the site and the adjacent park, which were among the neighbours’ concerns.”

YWCA Canberra said the organisation can now move forward on this important project to increase supported housing supply during the current housing crisis, and are pleased Mr Gentleman exercised his ministerial call-in powers.

The organisation said the development was “opposed by a small group of local residents, causing a costly delay to the project”. The Federal Government provided the project $1.2 million of funding in 2019.

CEO of YWCA Canberra, Frances Crimmins, said, “The Minister’s call-in powers exist to ensure that important developments that have a clear benefit to the community are able to proceed in a timely manner. This means that we can start the process of making YHomes a reality, to support women and their families as soon as possible.

“Our development has been through a DA process and public consultation period prior to the current DA which has been called in – the community has had ample time and opportunity to table their views, and YWCA Canberra has listened and adjusted our development plans each time.

“We are confident that our development has considered and incorporated the views of the community, and that the significant support from local residents for this important and purpose-driven development will continue into the next phase of this process.”

YWCA Canberra said the residents in the Ainslie area have been responding to the announcement of the development approval “positively”.

Local resident, Meridith Edwards, said, “As an Ainslie resident, I am delighted to know that the YWCA’s housing project designed to meet an urgent and growing need is to proceed at last.

“Its residents will have affordable and safe accommodation which is close to transport, medical facilities, and shops. Co-residence will provide the benefit of mutual support and efficiency in service delivery.”

Nearby neighbour, Tony Adams, has followed the proposed development and said he and his family are “very pleased to see it now proceeding, providing a vital housing service for a particularly needy group. The planning approval process has ensured that all local views have had a very good hearing and the right decision has now been made.”

Today’s decision has been also welcomed by local housing advocacy group Greater Canberra, but organisation convenor Howard Maclean feels the planning system has wasted “hundreds of thousands” of taxpayer dollars on the “preferences of existing residents in wealthy suburbs”.

“The YHomes Ainslie development has been held up for over a year by a small group of residents who have apposed this project from the outset,” Mr Maclean said.  

“Many months and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent by the planning authority in responding to a tribunal appeal that has delayed this critically important housing.

“We hope that the minister’s decision today brings this saga to a close and allows the YWCA to get on with the job of providing housing to women and children who are at risk of homelessness.”

Greater Canberra’s solutions to the delays in the planning system are laid out in their submission, which outlines a streamlined approval process and a system that puts “housing affordability and socioeconomic equity at the heart”.

“The government must ensure that the new planning system facilitates the housing that Canberra desperately needs,” Mr Maclean said. 

“Canberra has a housing supply crisis, with thousands of people on the public housing waiting list, and we can’t afford to have important projects like this one stuck in appeals for months on end.

“Canberrans expect the planning system to take into account the needs of the whole community – especially the vulnerable – rather than just the preferences of existing residents in wealthy suburbs.”

YWCA Canberra will be seeking construction support from the community to make the development a reality, and any providers willing to help are invited to contact the organisation.

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