🤕It certainly hit a nerve with many others who have had similar experiences with authorities.
Interestingly, Melbourne Water responded (pleasantly, clearly via PR team) to my post, promising to help fast-track the application and work on fixing their processes in future based on their #housingstatement commitments .
📝Of course, the response had to mention the reasoning for why it was so complicated in their eyes – the fence is in the vicinity of sensitive waterway area so they simply must ensure it is "not adversely affected". By a chainlink fence.
Now, I can accept that every bureacratic process, form, referral etc. comes from a (usually) reasoned place.
What none of these silos understands is that, whilst in isolation everything can be justified, the collective of these various referrals, processes and response timeframes contributes enormous delays to the ultimate goal – i.e. building more homes.
💯Each approval will involve dozens or even hundreds of such referrals, reports, processes to be followed, often sequentially.
📋There is no one who keeps track of the myriad of processes, asks whether they add value or are reasonable. We are just expected to comply with the whims of the entity or sometimes the particular officer in charge.
🪜Each step adds days, weeks, months or in some cases years, let alone the cost of actually complying with all the paperwork boxes to be ticked. And sometimes the responses from one authority can be entirely at odds with another, leaving developers in the middle to resolve them.
💸So, of course, by the time we get there, the cost of development and time delay means the price homebuyers need to pay must be higher to compensate. Or the dwelling doesn't get built.
🤔Time is so critically important to housing delivery. Anything that can be done to better coordinate referrals and get timeframes down, will assist in delivering more homes, sooner, and with less expense.
P.S. The Melbourne Water example is just one of dozens we've faced over the years. I plan to share more. Be afraid, authorities 😂
P.P.S❓We need a collective noun for bureacratic processes. Given it's death by a thousand cuts, perhaps a Murder of Processes? Who's got the best suggestion?