Boarding houses planned for Parramatta, Cumberland areas
Applications for more than 10 boarding houses in the suburbs surrounding Parramatta are currently under assessment. SEARCH OUR MAP TO FIND OUT WHERE
Parramatta
Don't miss out on the headlines from Parramatta . Followed categories will be added to My News.
They’re contentious developments that usually raise the ire and eyebrows of locals but applications for boarding houses are flying in thick and fast in the Parramatta and Cumberland local government areas.
From Berala to Auburn, Guildford to Granville these are the 11 boarding house proposals currently under assessment by council staff and the NSW Government planning panels.
AUBURN
30 Kerr Pde: A massive 140-unit boarding house to soar over 12 storeys is planned next to a Amity College primary school. Subject to approval, the Rolz Group development would include a shop, four-level basement carpark with spaces for 55 cars, 32 motorcycle and 32 bicycles, and a 236sq m communal area. The Sydney and Regional Planning Panel is assessing plans, which were slammed by Cumberland Mayor Steve Christou in April when he said the application was under the guise of affordable housing but was just a way for developers to make a quick buck.
14 Hevington Rd: Pending the green light, lodgers will be accommodated over 20 rooms at this property, which was submitted for public feedback in November.
25A Mary St: A whopping 57 rooms are in the pipeline for this nine-storey block. The basement carpark planned will be three decks and plans have been lodged under the State Environmental Planning Policy’s affordable rental housing.
BERALA
23 York St: Subject to approval, this double-storey boarding house will squeeze 36 rooms on to the block, which contains a basement carpark.
EPPING
Epping residents are fighting against a 12-bedroom boarding house where 19 lodgers would be accommodated under a “commercial operation that masquerades as affordable housing” but are hoping an imminent review of state government legislation will block a developer’s plans.
Subject to approval from Parramatta Council, developers Top Tree would demolish a single-storey dwelling at 73 Kent St to make way for a double-storey house for lodgers under the state government’s Affordable Rental Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (ARHSEPP).
Under proposed changes, the government would only allow non-profit housing providers to operate boarding houses instead of private developers.
Critics oppose the location, which is classed as R2, or a low-density residential neighbourhood, and also cite noise, limited access to transport and insufficient demand for the housing in their objections.
“We will argue there isn’t demand with a lot of empty units in Epping,’’ Epping Civic Trust president Janet McGarry said.
“There’s not a demand that cannot be met.“Boarding houses are very controversial because they try to get around planning and zoning under a state government planning instrument that overrides council’s planning.
This is a commercial operation that masquerades as affordable housing but really isn’t.’’Epping resident Jill Fisher said: “We are not a bunch of NIMBYs.
“There wouldn’t be anything near the community opposition to this boarding house if the developer was fair dinkum about providing affordable housing in line with the original intention of the 2009 ARHSEPP.’’In a report Top Tree said the project, which proposes five single rooms and seven double rooms, would provide affordable housing and alleviate rental stress for low-income households by paying $330 a week in rent.
“For example, a very-low-income person or couple earning around $700 per week and paying $350 or more per week in rent would be in severe rental stress,’’ the report said.
“Renting a room in this boarding house would mean that they would be paying less than 50 per cent of their income in rental payments, meaning that rather than being in severe rental stress they would now be in moderate rental stress.
“It is likely that the proposed boarding house will provide significant positive benefits in this locality in terms of providing genuinely affordable rental housing for most low-income single and couple households, and all moderate-income smaller households.’’
But the plans could soon be thwarted.
Epping state Liberal MP Dominic Perrottet said the government was reviewing loopholes in the Affordable Rental Housing SEPP that would only require boarding houses to be managed by a registered non-profit community housing provider.
“The Affordable Rental Housing SEPP plays an important role in providing high-quality affordable housing,’’ he said.
“However, as with any piece of legislation passed 12 years ago, sometimes we have to look at how the rules are playing out in real life and tighten up any loopholes.
“As such, the NSW Government has proposed changes to the SEPP which would mean that boarding houses must be affordable, and must be managed by a registered not-for-profit community housing provider.”
After recent discussions with residents, Mr Perrottet said he approached Planning Minister Rob Stokes, who would be “bringing these changes forward in the coming weeks’’, meaning situations with private developers “should not be occurring again’’.
“In the meantime, I will be writing to Parramatta Council outlining my concerns with this proposal as it is not consistent with the character of the local area,’’ he said.
The deadline for public feedback into the boarding house is April 14.
GUILDFORD
73 Bangor St: A four-storey boarding house with 20 rooms is planned to replace a single dwelling in a suburb that is no stranger to boarding houses. Cumberland Council is inviting public feedback to the proposal until January 29. If approved, the development will include a manager’s residence over a basement carpark.
70 Cardigan St: It’s been described as a cage but a boarding house for 12 lodgers will spring up over three storeys despite some unhappy neighbours’ concerns. The 10-room block was initially planned to accommodate 14 rooms over five storeys.
In 2019, the applicant, Baini Design, then trimmed the application to four storeys and residents expressed concerns over loss of privacy, overshadowing and attracting a transient community. Cumberland Council also initially rejected the application because it failed to comply with the character of the area and neighbours opposed the kind of tenants it would attract.
HARRIS PARK
7 Albion St: A six-room boarding house for a maximum of 12 lodgers has been planned for this address after plans were lodged with Parramatta Council in March.
No car parking is proposed on site, just two motorcycle and bicycle spaces. Documents lodged with the council state the management plan identified strategies to address potential social or environmental impacts associated with boarding houses.
"The plan of management embraces current best practice methodologies such as casual surveillance, formal CCTV surveillance, clear contact points and procedures,complaint handling processes, articulation of responsibilities, and agreed house rules.''
LIDCOMBE
159 Joseph St: Designs for a 10-room boarding house over two levels were submitted in October.
SOUTH GRANVILLE
185 Blaxcell St: This double-storey development will, if approved, include a 10 boarding rooms and a five-space carpark.
PARRAMATTA, NORTH PARRAMATTA
378-380 Church St: As the cost of private housing in Parramatta’s CBD soars, the demand for affordable housing is growing, says the applicant for this eight-storey boarding block on the fringes of North Parramatta.
Plans have been submitted to build the 30-room and manager’s residence in a mixed use block with a ground floor shop and basement parking. It would replace a two-storey building with shops and offices
An Andrew Martin Planning report, submitted as part of the development application to Parramatta Council in September, said the growing trend of housing unaffordability in the area underlined the need for the development.
“The growing trend of housing unaffordability in the area suggests that the local housing market is not adequately providing for the housing needs of all the community and as such planning intervention is required to mitigate the rising cost of housing in the area,’’ the report said.
“The owner is convinced that this form of housing will be desirable and well patronised dueto the rising costs of new apartment housing in the Parramatta CBD and edges.
“A boarding house offers a sound alternative to traditional forms of housing.”
33-43 Marion St: This is a whopper of a boarding development soaring up to 27 storeys with retail, commercial premises and other shop-top housing mixed with boarders near Harris Park train station.
The $81 million plans include about 110 apartments ,90 boarding rooms and 68 “affordable-housing’’ units while 750sq m will be allocated for retail space and the carpark will have a maximum of 232 spaces.
A development application for the ambitious plans has been lodged with Parramatta Council and will be subject to a design competition.
Planning documents say that the boarding accommodation and 50 per cent of the shop-top housing floor space would be affordable rental housing.
A 133-year-old Victorian-era cottage at 37 Marion St will be destroyed to make way for the tower.
Last September, when the matter was discussed at Parramatta Council, Labor councillor Patricia Prociv slammed the development for eroding local heritage.
“We are a developer’s dream as a council,’’ she said.
“Our heritage is domestic but all we’re going to be left with are these tall glass buildings. They’re not heritage. Our heritage lies in our little buildings.”
Liberal councillor Martin Zaiter backed the development and criticised those who rejected it for impeding Parramatta’s growth as a second city.
“We will never achieve that goal. We’ll never realise our future and our dream if we are continuing to change the goalposts,’’ he said.
The Sydney Central City Planning Panel will determine the project and the development will be subject to a design competition.
47 Sorrell St: An application for a 26-room boarding house has been given the green light after a Parramatta Local Planning Panel declared it would be in the public’s interest at its July 27 meeting.
The four-storey project will convert an existing unit block and include a manager’s room, a lift, 10 parking spaces, motorbike parking spaces, bicycle storage area, communal open space and storage.
The first floor will comprise seven boarding rooms and a manager’s room, the second floor will house nine boarding rooms and the third floor will have nine rooms.
Internal walls will be knocked down and common rooms are to be fitted out on each level.
The panel declared that the development would be compatible with the “emerging and planned future character of the area”.
The project, which is opposite the Centenary Uniting Church, drew four objections citing concerns including a lack of parking, inadequate social infrastructure and incompatibility with the heritage area.
However, the applicants, Baini, said the boarding house would be used in an existing building and materials used for upgrades would be compatible with the neighbourhood.
The applicants also said there would be ample parking and there were four more spaces provided than then required six.
2 Reilly St: Hume Community Housing has lodged plans with Parramatta Council on May 20 and proposes a five-storey boarding house with 39 rooms, including a manager's room and ground-level parking.
In a social impact statement lodged with the council, HCH said there was a demand for more affordable housing in Parramatta.
"While some members of the community may express concerns in relation to the traditional boarding house model, it is clear from the evidence presented that the proposal will be a modern and contemporary building with an on-site manager with a good design and internal layout,'' the report said.
"The development will be supported by the provision of social infrastructure services and facilities, including public transport – buses and trains.''
HCH is one of the largest community housing providers in NSW and has more than 400 properties in the Parramatta council area. It manages more than 4400 properties across the state.
18 Fennell St: Under plans lodged in January, a double-storey, heritage listed home that was formerly used as a speech therapy practice could be converted to a nine-room boarding house.
13 Collett Pde: A fibro home could be replaced by a four-storey boarding house and will provide “affordable housing’’ to a western Sydney neighbourhood but it has been labelled unsuitable for the area.
Applicants M Ahal C/- PTI Architecture have lodged plans with the council for a 17-room building including a 17-lot basement carpark at 13 Collett Pde, where a fibro home now stands.
Despite the opposition to the development, similar projects have been given the green light in the same street — including a 58-room, four-storey boarding house at 12-14 Collett Pde where 90 lodgers are due to live.
At 8-10, another four-storey boarding house with 16 rooms has been approved.
MORE NEWS
More Coverage
Parramatta: El-Phoenician proposes ‘boutique’ hotel, restaurant tower
Coronavirus NSW: More testing urged at Wentworthville, western Sydney clinics
Join the conversation
Future Olympians! Try-fectas, close calls in Next Gen 7s battles
There were blowouts, close calls, a hot boot and multiple try-fectas in the opening round of the Next Gen Sevens rugby series in Sydney. Stars, great photos and Rd 1 result wrap.
Read more
‘It’s a special thing’: Australia’s rare rugby result in New Zealand
Rugby’s U18s rising stars have done something few other Aussie teams have managed in recent times - completing a shock and awe mission across the ditch for two wins. Stars, result wrap
Read more