Fears health workers could be priced out of market near Northern Beaches Hospital

KEY workers at the Northern Beaches Hospital may not be able to afford to live nearby. That’s the damning conclusion of health unions, and the local MP.

View from Frenchs Forest Rd of the under construction Northern Beaches Hospital. Picture: Martin Lange.

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KEY workers at the Northern Beaches Hospital may not be able to afford to live nearby.

That’s the damning conclusion of health unions, and one local MP, as delays in rezoning land near the Frenchs Forest site continue.

Health unions fear the holdup will lead to a lack of worker housing, creating “cumulative levels of exhaustion that are unhealthy and unsustainable”.

It follows the Northern Beaches Council’s freeze on plans, with no new deadline in place.

In a scathing assessment, Davidson state Liberal MP Jonathan O’Dea questioned where hospital staff would live.

“Governments should provide reasonable certainty in a reasonable time frame,” he said.

“I think it is fair to say we have gone past the point of a reasonable time frame.”

Roadworks on southern side of Warringah Rd near the new hospital being built at Frenchs Forest.

Mr O’Dea was pleased with progress of the hospital, due to open in 2018, and with road building. But he said the rezoning should have already been done.

“Private investors, or other entities, would be making choices (on building houses) but they need to make those choices based on environments that have reasonable certainty, at the moment that is not existent,” he said.

Administrator Dick Persson said affordable housing was being considered but “there is no guarantee the rezonings will deliver any affordable housing within a five-year period”.

He said the council would attempt to provide some downward pressure on prices through measures such as affordable parking.

A view of the constructions from Warringah Rd.

But the idea that “there will be some sort of nurses home next to a hospital is a bit outdated and fanciful”.

The council indicated that most hospital workers would prefer to live around Dee Why, not next to the hospital.

Real estate agents have begun to question whether developments will be completed, or even started, by the hospital’s opening.

Stuart Bath, director of Skyline Real Estate said even if developers started building today, they would struggle to complete appropriate housing in time.

“Putting plans through council takes about six months for a unit block with an eight to 12 month build time,” he said.

Davidson State Liberal MP Jonathan O'Dea. Picture: Braden Fastier.

Brett Holmes, general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, said more needed to be done to provide housing for hospital workers.

“The annual starting wages of around $30-$50K for nurses, midwives and assistant nurses would likely price many out of the area around the new hospital, which could affect the ability to maintain staff, he said.

“If shift workers have to spend a significant amount of time commuting to and from work, it adds to the cumulative levels of exhaustion that are unhealthy and unsustainable.”

The Health Services Union called for a swift rezoning to allow for more units near the hospital.

“It is important for workers to have opportunities to live within a reasonable distance of their place of employment, so provision needs to be made for the development of new affordable housing in the area.”