Bradfield Oration 2024: Sydney can learn from Singapore, Hong Kong housing plans

Sydney should look to powerhouse cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vienna to combat its crippling housing crisis — if it wants to stop thousands of people fleeing the state.

Sydney should look to powerhouse cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vienna to combat its crippling housing crisis – if it wants to stop the mass of 34,000 people fleeing the state, along with $10 billion in lost economic benefit being siphoned out of the state each year.

Committee for Sydney policy head, Jeremy Gill told The Saturday Telegraph Sydney was ranked as the sixth most unaffordable city for housing in a recent benchmark global study – costing the state billions as tens of thousands of residents flee NSW for other states.

The urban policy expert compared Greater Sydney to the likes of Amsterdam, Barcelona, San Francisco, and Dubai in a major study, which revealed that urban sprawl and affordability were being combated in global cities with massive 50-year masterplans to shape the DNA of cities around the world.

The Singapore skyline at night.

“Affordable housing is Sydney’s most significant issue,” Mr Gill said.

“Cities around the world are focusing on increasing the supply of affordable housing in order to combat the cost of living issues, with the likes of Vienna, Hong Kong, and Singapore having upwards of 50 per cent of the housing designated to affordable housing.”

The policy and urban planning expert said these cities had established 50-year visions for the future, blueprinting where “homes, infrastructure, business and recreation will be built decades before it is needed”.

“Sydney and the people in it don’t realise the potential of our city if it is planned correctly if it carves its way forward and future-proofs itself,” he said.

“If we can have a vision to progress that – focusing on what we need for our city to thrive in 50 years – we will be on the right track.”

The sun sets behind Hong Kong's skyline. Picture: Mladen Antonov / AFP

Sydney needs to follow in the footsteps of Singapore if it wants to beat its housing crisis. Picture: Tom Parrish

Planning Minister Paul Scully told The Daily Telegraph the government “look at what other cities have done and are doing to address global megatrends like an aging population, as well as emerging issues”.

“Our efforts to better connect homes and jobs to public transport have been informed by other global cities,” he said. “Closer to home, we have looked at the impact of rezoning policies on housing supply such as those undertaken in Auckland.”

The Committee for Sydney’s calls to combat the state’s housing crisis with an uptick in rent-capped affordable housing comes just months after internal migration data revealed 34,000 people left NSW to live in other states in the last financial year.

Committee for Sydney Policy Head, Jeremy Gill.

The City of Sydney local government area experienced the biggest exodus in the 2022-23 financial year with 6400 moving out of the area.

Meanwhile, the data revealed Parramatta saw 5528 residents leave, 4675 move out of the Canterbury-Bankstown area, and 4286 people leave Cumberland.

However, western Sydney suburbs saw massive increases in population with more than 3600 additional people moving to The Hills, while neighbouring Blacktown also saw an additional 2070 people move into the community.

A view of Sydney city from Dudley Page Reserve, Dover Heights. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

City of Sydney Council is one of just eight across NSW funding the delivery of affordable housing by seeking funds from developers building major projects across the CBD.

Private developers are required by the council to make cash contribution to local infrastructure, with a massive 1,447 affordable homes funded by council and built by community housing providers across the local government area.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore revealed to The Daily Telegraph an additional 1,950 affordable housing dwellings are set to be built with support from developer contributions, which could see the number of affordable homes in the Sydney CBD reach 5,338 by 2036.

“Like most leading cities around the world Sydney is experiencing an affordable housing shortage,” Cr Moore said. “While housing is the responsibility of the NSW Government, the City of Sydney uses all levers at its disposal to deliver more rent capped Affordable Housing managed by Community Housing Provider.

“As at the end of June 2024 we have collected more than $400 million in levies, provided $31.6 million in discounted land and committed more than $13 million in grants.”

Lord Mayor Clover Moore. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

Minister for Planning Paul Scully. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Cr Moore said there were 30,000 homes built or in the pipeline across the city, in response to the NSW Government’s housing targets.

“We are in a housing affordability crisis, which is making owning or renting in Sydney incredibly difficult or out of reach for many,” she said. “The problem is particularly acute in the inner city.

“Affordable housing is essential for a diverse, cohesive, and economically successful global city, and more importantly, is a basic human right.”

Mr Scully said he would like to see more councils across the state introduce affordable housing schemes: “We need affordable housing across the state to provide more affordable options for people to live close to their families, friends and jobs.”

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