Future Campbelltown: High-rise living around urban centres crucial to avoiding past “poor planning”

The dire realities of the housing affordability crisis hurting families in Campbelltown could have ripple effects on greater Sydney, an expert has warned.

The dire realities of the housing affordability crisis hurting families in Campbelltown could have ripple effects on greater Sydney, an expert has warned.

The southwest Sydney hub, home to almost 200,000 people, is buckling more than most under rising cost of living pressures, with almost 11,500 households experiencing mortgage stress in the 2560 postcode, which includes Campbelltown, in the last 12 months.

A Future Campbelltown report, produced by advocacy group Committee for Sydney, will be released on Friday and details how the Campbelltown area has a higher proportion of homes with a mortgage than greater Sydney.

SGS Economics and Planning principal partner Jeremy Gill, who contributed to the Committee for Sydney report, said the income of Campbelltown residents was typically lower than the rest of Sydney.

“This means that rising interest rates can still significantly impact families as they have less income coming in,” he said.

Eamon Waterford.

Committee for Sydney CEO Eamon Waterford said housing affordability was a key problem facing Campbelltown which, unless resolved, would ultimately hurt residents across greater Sydney with essential workers priced out of the city.

“We as a city will suffer,” he said. “Solving this problem is not just good for Campbelltown. It’s good for Sydney.

“Teachers, nurses, cops, firefighters – they are the people that keep our schools and hospitals and city running, and if they cannot afford rent, we need to address that.”

Mr Waterford said a Future Campbelltown forum, to be held on Friday with keynote speakers including new Planning Minister Paul Scully, would analyse the challenges and identify what needs to be done.

He said solutions included higher density developments around public transport hubs, with the Future Campbelltown report identifying apartments made only seven per cent of homes in the Campbelltown area, as well as government investment in social and affordable housing.

Seta and Peter Berbari pictured with their 17-year-old son.

Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue executive director, Adam Leto said sustainable cities started with building up the centres where services already exist.

“It’s important that we create affordable and accessible housing and not repeat the poor planning decisions of the past,” he said.

Ruse resident Peter Berbari bought his home for about $112,000 in the late 1990s. Then, in the early 2000s, he bought a second property for about $260,000 in Campbelltown which he now rents out.

Mayor George Greiss.

Despite the cost of living challenges, Mr Berbari said he considered himself one of the “lucky ones” despite concerns about the financial future for his teenage children as “everything seems to be going up except for wages”.

“I am managing, but it is tough,” he said. “We are fortunate in that our actual home repayments are not too high, so it’s about the interest rates”.

“For example, I was paying $1400 as a repayment for my rental property, and then it went up by almost $1000.”

Campbelltown mayor George Greiss said the council was doing what they could to help the housing crisis where possible.

“We are doing our fair share, 8.7 per cent of our stock is social and affordable housing,” he said. “We also need to make sure we are not disadvantaging the community by making sure we have the services they need in place to have a good quality of life.”