A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a not-for-profit organisation that holds land for community benefit. Residents purchase the homes while the CLT retains ownership of the land, helping keep homes affordable.

Housing in Bellingen Shire has become increasingly unaffordable for people on local wages.

The price of a typical home is now around 14 times the median local wage, compared with around 8.5 times income across regional NSW.

This gap between wages and housing costs makes it extremely difficult for many local households to buy a home or save a deposit while paying market rent.

The 2021 Census identified at least 293 households in housing stress in the Bellingen Shire.

Waterfall Way CLT seeks to ensure that local workers can continue to live in the communities they support.

The CLT model is based on access to low or no cost land. Ferry Street is well-located, Council-owned surplus operational land.

Council made the decision to consider transferring the site after its own investigation into the CLT model, WWCLT's credentials and capabilities, a review of all Council-owned land, and alignment with its Housing Strategy. Council has a clear commitment to affordable housing. Its Plan for the Future and 2026/27 Operating Plan names WWCLT as one local solution to the housing diversity residents identified as a Shire-wide priority.

If the land is transferred, we will develop homes for six or seven local households. We estimate that at least 23 households would call it home over the next 50 years.

The homes will be architect-designed and built using modern methods of construction. They will be built to the same quality standards as any new home in the Shire. Affordability comes from the ownership model, not from cutting corners on construction.

At its meeting on 17 June 2026, Council decided, subject to certain conditions being met and this consultation, to transfer the site to WWCLT for a nominal sum of $1, rather than its assessed market valuation of $750,000.

Council's current community consultation gives residents the chance to comment on that decision. To protect Council's intention that the land is used only for affordable housing in perpetuity, Council has determined that legal safeguards will be established to make sure that the land can only be used for affordable housing in the future.

If this goes ahead, it will not cost Council cash, but there will be an opportunity cost to ratepayers. Council would be giving up the option to sell an asset it owns, in exchange for a defined public benefit, which is perpetual affordable home ownership for workers who live and work locally.

The assessed valuation would only be realised if Council sold the site for the best price on the open market. That would imply the site would be developed as densely as possible for commercial viability, with homes at market price, out of reach for local workers, and without the environmental and community protections built into the proposed transfer to WWCLT.

If the land is transferred, we are committed to working directly with neighbours on the site's masterplan, and taking their feedback into account as the project continues, including concerns already raised about traffic management and parking.

What about the trees and the site's environmental value?

We take the site's environmental value seriously and have had it independently assessed. An independent ecological assessment found the site has been cleared at least twice, its understorey is largely weeds, and its significant trees are under 75 years old. The assessment found the site is not “irreplaceable bush”: Urunga's urban area has over 100,000m² of currently uncleared land, and this site is less than 2% of that. In response to community feedback and our own values, WWCLT has decided that any development will be designed to retain as many trees as possible and minimise site impact. We will continue to engage independent environmental expertise.

We are also committed to working alongside Gumbaygnnirr custodians to regenerate the site and reflect its cultural context, including reintroducing native species from its historical seed bank.

The Ferry Street site was identified after reviewing land across the Shire that was not privately owned. Council land was considered the most realistic option for an initial demonstration project. Both Council and the Waterfall Way CLT believe that of under-utilised Council land, this is the best site available.

What is the land ownership structure and how will people actually buy in?

The CLT model separates the value of the land from the cost of the home built on it. For Ferry Street, we would create a community title over the site, with separate titles for each home. WWCLT would be a tenant in common on that title, retaining the land in perpetuity, while the resident's share is the value of the house built on it.

The value of the land is not part of the resident's purchase price, which is limited to the cost of the house. If a co-owner decides to sell their house, the sale price is indexed and not based on market value. The house must be sold to another local who meets WWCLT's eligibility criteria and WWCLT will manage this process. This protects ongoing affordability and means these are forever affordable homes for locals.

Is there a home loan product available?

A home loan product is needed for this model, and this has been a priority for WWCLT. We are working with a mutual bank and other expert advisers to develop a residential mortgage product for resident co-owners. This work is well advanced, and we are optimistic that there will a positive outcome soon.

The Council papers advise that a condition of land transfer will be to require WWCLT to demonstrate it has the financial capacity to deliver the project before the land is transferred. From our perspective this includes ensuring there is an available mortgage product.

WWCLT is on track to be the first fully operating CLT in Australia, and this mortgage product will be the first of its kind. Building something that does not exist yet takes careful work with our banking and legal partners, and we are not cutting corners.

How the work started

This work started with local volunteers, growing out of Housing Matters Action Group's first Local Solutions Housing Forum in 2018. In 2020, that volunteer group brought the CLT model to Bellingen Shire Council, which secured Mid North Coast Regional Council funding for a Proof of Concept project testing the model's viability across the region. That independent work confirmed the model was viable.

Start-up

That volunteer effort, including the two staff who now work part-time on the project, got this idea off the ground without any funding. But turning a proven concept into a genuinely deliverable model needed specialist expertise that volunteers alone couldn't provide.

Establishment funding for this project has totalled $794,000 to date. This was provided through three philanthropic grants since 1 December 2023 — initially to the Housing Matters Action Group, which incubated this project before WWCLT was formally incorporated, and now directly to WWCLT Ltd. This funding has covered the specialist work needed to test and build a model that doesn't yet exist anywhere else in Australia.

WWCLT's target is 100 affordable homes across the Shire within 10 years. If the Ferry Street transfer goes ahead, it will be the first of many projects.

Work completed so far includes land audits and site assessments confirming Ferry Street as viable, covering environmental, arborist, cultural heritage and financial modelling; legal and planning advice, development of the CLT model itself, including its constitution, legal structure, work on the mortgage product and extensive practical resources that will be useful for every community that follows.

The legal structures, mortgage product and governance frameworks being built now will make every home after it faster and cheaper to deliver. Land for future projects is expected to come from a range of partners across the Shire.

All of the material we develop is open source so that other communities can tailor it to their own CLT start up projects. We know that the CLT model could be a game changer for “the missing middle” nationally, particularly in rural communities.

WWCLT is a not-for-profit, a Company Limited by Guarantee, with no shareholders and no ability to distribute funds to anyone. Like every company in Australia, including charities and not-for-profits, WWCLT is registered with ASIC. That is a standard legal requirement for any organisation incorporated under the Corporations Act, not an indication of being privately or publicly listed for trading.

The Housing Matters Action Group, which incubated this project, is a registered charity. WWCLT has a charitable objective baked into its constitution and has applied for charitable status with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). We held off lodging the application until the model's core features were settled, since ACNC assessment depends on those details. We expect an outcome in the coming months.

WWCLT Ltd was established in 2024 and is run by local volunteers, many well known in the community, tackling the Shire's housing crisis. We report back to the community through public meetings, newsletters and our website, launched in December 2024, which offers information sheets and other resources on WWCLT and the CLT model. Anyone interested is welcome to join and get involved with WWCLT Ltd. The Directors are all volunteers and do not receive Directors fees.

We are not a commercial developer pursuing housing projects for private financial gain. Our constitution states our charitable purpose, which is to provide lasting, affordable housing to people in the Bellingen Shire who are struggling to secure a home on their own, by holding land permanently out of the speculative market.

Our constitution locks land we secure into affordable housing use, under a capped resale formula that keeps homes affordable for every future family. For the people this model is aimed at, that is the point: instead of paying rent indefinitely with nothing to show for it, they have a stake in their home, while WWCLT holds the land on their behalf. Together Waterfall Way CLT Ltd and the purchaser are co-owners. Council have made it clear that they will add its own legal protections at transfer to make sure this remains the case.

All conflicts of interest are to be declared to the Board of WWCLT as soon as they become known and a record of these is kept on the organisation’s conflicts of interest register. With regard to this project, it is noted that a current director of the WWCLT owns a neighbouring property. This has been tabled at WWCLT’s AGM, with Council and in the company’s conflict of interest register. The director was elected with that interest already known and on the public record. They do not stand to gain financially from the Ferry Street project.

The concept is for around six homes with a mix of two- and three-bedroom dwellings. We are exploring well designed modular housing with good environmental credentials and solar passive design. If the land is transferred, we will work closely with potential residents, local First Nations custodians and nearby neighbours on project design.

Homes would be allocated through transparent eligibility criteria and a lottery process from pre-approved applicants. Read our eligibility info sheet here and our allocation info sheet here.

Waterfall Way CLT is working with a mutual bank to develop a mortgage product for residents and has received establishment support from a philanthropic foundation. If Council decides to transfer the land we will need to meet a number of tests to demonstrate project viability before settlement. This will include a consultation on the detail of a DA proposal.