Local community service provider Social Futures lodged a development application (DA) with Lismore City Council in February 2024 to build 18 new one —and two-bedroom units in Goonellabah.

Social Futures is also a Tier 3 registered Community Housing Provider and purchased the property in March 2023.

The current Phillip Street/McDermott Avenue development has seven (7) existing units built in the 1970s. The units are considered to be rundown and at the end of their asset lifecycle.

The plan is to demolish these units and replace them with 18 units that will be a 50/50 mix of social and affordable housing. The nine (9) affordable housing units will look to house essential workers such as health, education, construction, police, and Fire and Rescue.

The original plans were to create 12 x 2-bedroom and 6 x 1-bedroom units on the second and third floors of the new building.

The modified approved DA doesn't specify the details of the new mix of 2- and 1-bedroom units; it simply says, "a reduction in the number of 2-bedroom units and replacement with additional 1-bedroom units.

There will be design changes to the unit types, as well as the removal of the courtyard, landscaping design and other minor design amendments.

Social Futures Chief Financial Officer, Michael Carter, told the Lismore App that the building DA required an amendment to its facade and sizing on the land.

(The original submitted plans)

The need for more social, affordable and medium-density housing in the Lismore LGA has been well-publicised, something that the February 2022 big flood only exacerbated.

Social Futures CEO Tony Davies said there is a shortage of local, small-scale housing close to essential services like shops, employment, education, and public transport. 

Phillip Street and McDermott Avenue are close to the Goonellabah Shopping Centre, GSAC and the Rous Road shops.

As a community, we are all acutely aware of the current housing crisis and the shortage of social and affordable housing. 

We are also aware that the DA's for Phillip Street/McDermott Avenue in Goonellabah, Bristol Circuit in Goonellabah, Cynthia Wilson Drive, East Lismore, and the 50 Build-To-Rent apartments on the corner of Crawford Road and Military Road, East Lismore were announced, with some approved in 2024, and still there has been no signs of any construction.

CFO Michael Carter says demolition of the existing building will not start until all residents have transitioned to alternative accommodation and the building is vacant.

As for a construction start time, Social Futures says there is potential for a June or July start, with apartments ready for occupancy from December 2026.