Affordable housing in Sydney at Macquarie Park Village
AFFORDABLE homes may be a foreign concept to Sydneysiders, but a concerted effort is providing them across Ryde.
Northern District Times
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AFFORDABLE homes may be a foreign concept to Sydneysiders, but a concerted effort is providing them across Ryde.
The first of six affordable housing units has been completed at Macquarie Park Village, at the corner of Epping and Herring Rd.
Ryde Council required the developer provide the subsidised homes as part of its approval of the 700-unit estate.
The council will own the homes, and affordable housing operator Link Housing will assess and select tenants. These residents may have a disability, low-income or be key workers.
Key workers are those providing essential services like healthcare, education and emergency services, but may struggle to afford living close to their work.
The council produced a policy last year to encourage builders to provide affordable housing. Builders who participate may receive concessions, such as permission for taller buildings.
The council is aiming for five per cent of all buildings built over the next 20 years to be affordable housing.
Ryde’s scheme is being adopted statewide through the forming of new industry group, the Housing Supply Association, which the NSW Government has backed.
While the plans for Macquarie Park Village were approved prior to the policy, the affordable housing units will be the first owned by the council.
There are three one bedroom units, and three two-bedrooms units.
The first is in the Darwin building – one of four buildings completed at the village last year.
Link Housing chief executive Andrew McAnulty said the rent for the one-bedroom unit would be about $400 per week.
He said Link set its affordable housing rent prices at least 20 per cent below market value.
Oakstand development manager Jon Hopkins – who represents land owner Stamford Land Corporation – said the affordable housing units were of equal quality to the others.
“They have the same timber flooring, and the same stone benchtops,” he said.
The other five units will be part of the remaining three village buildings, to be completed early next year.
Ryde Mayor Bill Pickering said: “This is a very real and positive step towards solving the housing crisis faced by thousands of low-income families who do not have access to market-level rental properties.
“Council is aiming for a portfolio of at least 250 affordable dwellings for essential workers over the next two decades.”
The State Government would provide another 500 homes, he said.
Developers had responded positively to the affordable housing policy, Cr Pickering said. At least seven affordable homes will be delivered in the next 18 months.
Another building project at Bay Drive, Meadowbank, also recently provided the council with an affordable housing unit.
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