Committee for Sydney calls for 50 per cent subsidised essential worker housing at Frenchs Forest Town Centre

The Northern Beaches is being starved of nurses, bus drivers, teachers and cops who can’t afford to live near their work. It’s a story repeated across Sydney, but now calls are mounting to set aside more homes for the people who keep our city running.

A shortage of nurses, bus drivers, teachers and cops on the Northern Beaches has been caused by the lack of housing affordable for the average worker, as calls mount to set new developments aside for essential workers or risk “hollowing out” local communities.

The Minns government has been urged to dedicate at least half of the 1000 apartments set to be delivered in a significant redevelopment of the Frenchs Forest Town Centre near Northern Beaches Hospital essential workers, including the 15 per affordable housing currently zoned for the site.

Despite earning pay packets ranging between $100,000-120,000 – what was once considered a healthy middle-income wage – essential workers cannot afford to live in large swathes of Sydney and also earn too much to qualify for affordable housing, leaving them to fall through the gap.

The Committee for Sydney declared the government had a “once in a generation” opportunity to stop the growing exodus of workers leaving the beaches by carving out more homes for them at the Frenchs Forest site, which could pave the way forward for more essential worker housing across the city.

It comes as hospital staff shortages and chronic bus service cancellations, compounded by a shortfall of about 20 local drivers, have already pushed the community to the brink.

Emergency nurse Rachel Barclay said she is on the verge of following former colleagues out of the Northern Beaches for good. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

But NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Royal North Shore Hospital branch president Rachel Barclay, 31, said this will only worsen unless the government makes sure essential workers can live close to their work.

“Housing affordability and the current economy are big barriers to getting experienced staff in the workplace, and particularly on the Northern Beaches,” she said.

Committee for Sydney said the development will be built next door to Northern Beaches Hospital and could house and retain healthcare staff. Picture: Brendan Read

Royal North Shore Hospital would also reap the benefits. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

“The community is going to see that reflected when they go to hospital.”

The average three-to-four bedroom house price in Frenchs Forest in the last year fetched $2.3m, while the median weekly rent was $1200 for houses and $570 for units, far outstripping essential worker wages.

In Glendenning in Western Sydney, where Ms Barkley and her police officer husband bought their home for $770,000 in 2021 after being priced out of the Northern Beaches on their combined income, the average house price last year was $965,000, less than half the Northern Beaches average.

Ms Barkley said she has been to countless farewells in the last year as senior nurses walk out the door for jobs in other parts of the city or interstate when they decide to start families and buy homes.

Northern Beaches commuters have been hit by long queues and blown-out commutes partly because operators have struggled to fill 20 local driver positions. Picture: Brendan Read

Remaining colleagues are barely hanging on. On top of her 12-hour shifts, Ms Barkley spends four hours on public transport, or two hours driving from her Glendenning home in Western Sydney, to get to work each day.

The “exhausting” hours have pushed her to start retraining in education so she can find a job at her nearby TAFE.

But Ms Barkley said setting aside half of the Frenchs Forest development for essential worker homes would boost staff retention and lead to “incredible changes for the community”.

Committee for Sydney chief executive officer Eamon Waterford called for the government’s land and property organisation, Landcom, to replicate its Build-to-Rent (BTR) model at the Frenchs Forest site after it was successfully slated for the WestConnex dive site in Camperdown.

Mr Waterford said the model, which could deliver 50 per cent subsidised essential worker housing through a mix of below-market BTR and shared equity models, would help keep workers in the area and prevent the “hollowing out” of local services.

It could also set a precedent for future developments across the city.

“The value we all derive from teachers, nurses and cops is not reflected in their pay check … and so providing them with affordable housing is actually something that benefits all of us,” he said.

Committee for Sydney chief executive officer Eamon Waterford called for the government to set aside half of the development for essential workers.

“The city stops functioning without essential workers, so making sure they can live close to their jobs is a fundamental element of a well-functioning city,” he said.

Independent Wakehurst MP Michael Regan echoed calls to maximise essential worker housing in the Frenchs Forest redevelopment, saying “we can’t miss the unique opportunity this site presents”.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully said the Frenchs Forest Town Centre, developed between the NSW Government, Northern Beaches Council, and private developers, had maintained the strategy set by the previous Coalition government, which earmarked 15 per cent of the units in the centre, and 10 per cent of the additional 1000 units to be built surrounding the site, for affordable rental housing.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully didn’t rule out the change. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Frenchs Forest Town Centre plans, as part of the Frenchs Forest Place Strategy 2041. Picture: DA2024/0499

Mr Scully did not rule out setting homes aside for essential workers at the site, but said the onus would be on private developers to deliver.

“These minimums should not be seen as a limit and if proponents wish to deliver more affordable (and essential worker) housing as part of their development, that would be welcome,” he said.

The town centre is the first phase of a three-stage “Frenchs Forest Place Strategy 2041” redevelopment designed to incorporate the hospital precinct into the suburb, promising 5360 new homes upon completion in the next 20 years.

The site will be built on the Frenchs Forest High School site, which will be vacated by mid-2025 and moved to Allambie Heights. Dates for when work starts on the town centre are yet to be confirmed.

It comes as the Legislative Assembly Select Committee on Essential Worker Housing, led by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, works on establishing what essential worker housing would entail and where the supply could be increased.

The committee findings will be handed down on June 16.