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The Property Council of the Northern Territory is calling for empty office space to be converted into 'special purpose accommodation' and relaxed parking regulations to address a significant shortfall in student accommodation in the Top End.
Key points:
- The Property Council of the NT wants to convert empty office space into student accommodation
- The government says similar conversions are already happening in Darwin
- There is a shortage of student units across the city
Charles Darwin University (CDU) estimates a shortfall of around 200 student accommodation rooms in the Top End, with the arrival of more students for the coming semester.
A new CDU campus in Darwin City is also expected to open next year.
The surge in demand for student accommodation has already prompted the university's vice-chancellor, Scott Bowman, to urge territory households to open up spare bedrooms to students to rent.
Currently, there is just one property close to the CBD listed on CDU's 'Study Stays' portal: a two-bedroom apartment in Stuart Park.
"If you've got some spare room, maybe a spare bedroom or a granny flat that you're not using, consider taking an international student to occupy that room," Professor Bowman told ABC Radio Darwin earlier this week.
Property Council NT chief executive Ruth Palmer said Darwin's student population was already struggling to find safe and comfortable accommodation.
"A report that we did nationally through our student accommodation council shows that currently Darwin has a ratio of only one bed per 33 [students] in Darwin," she said.
There has been a large amount of interest from property developers to build student and affordable housing, but Ms Palmer said a number of development applications have been declined or pulled due to building code restrictions around car parking in particular.
"So the current code means that they have to provide all the required long term amenities that are pretty much not essential, or ideological in nature," she said.
"Car parking has played a massive issue in development applications that have been going through. The approval hasn't been given and some of them have been due to that car parking requirement."
Calls for special purpose accommodation
Last year, the Property Council issued a position paper warning economic activity in the NT would stagnate over the next two years without a policy solution for addressing rental housing shortages in the short-term.
It proposed the government look at "vacant buildings and/or floors that could be repurposed to act as a short-term solution for worker accommodation".
The Northern Territory opposition this week adopted a similar position, calling on the government to convert old office spaces into residential tenements.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said large buildings in the CBD, such as Health House, could easily be repurposed.
"We're certainly interested in looking at what can be done better with existing commercial stock that remains vacant," she said.
"With vacancy rates at 17 per cent cross the Darwin CBD, there's enormous opportunity to work with building owners and the industry to make sure that we're converting that stock and revitalising it for everyone."
Ms Finocchiaro said conversions of existing buildings also had the potential to create "vibrancy" across the CBD and boost small businesses in the area.
Ms Palmer said any exemptions made to building approvals would need to be clearly identified and specifically in response to alleviating affordable housing shortages.
"Around that change of use, you would need to pretty heavily identify why you're changing that use in the first place, and if you're going to be housing those students."
She said any exemptions to building codes made for short-term student accommodation could not come at the expense of fire safety and security standards.
"That is absolutely paramount, and that needs to be in every single building. They are not things that would be up for discussion."
Government giving 'key consideration' to issue
Speaking to ABC Radio Darwin, Professor Bowman said Charles Darwin University had been inundated with international student applications.
It comes ahead of the expected opening of its new Darwin City campus next year.
"We've got another 600 or 700 students arriving for semester two. Our recruitment is just going through the roof," Professor Bowman said.
"It's going to be very, very tight in the city."
The vice chancellor urged residents in Darwin to open up spare bedrooms to international students to help ease the crunch, adding that it could provide an extra source of revenue to help households in "tight economic times".
The NT's Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Minister, Eva Lawler, said the government had a "dedicated team" that was working with CDU around future student accommodation.
"Accommodation is a key consideration in planning towards having additional students studying in the territory," she said.
Ms Lawler pointed towards the recent approval of a nine-storey development in Darwin's CBD that is expected to deliver 72 new student accommodation rooms.
"This is an example of accommodation in the works to cater for a growing student population."