Penrith Council oppose NSW government’s affordable, social housing reform, boarding house plan

A Sydney council has slammed the NSW Government over plans to bolster social and affordable housing in the city’s western suburbs. See why more boarding houses could be built near you.

A Sydney council has ridiculed NSW government plans for social and affordable housing reform in the city’s western suburbs – in a bid to address an escalating housing crisis – describing it as “a travesty”.

Penrith Council has hit out over the state government’s bid to boost social and affordable housing, with a submission to the NSW Planning Department claiming the reforms would cause “serious implication” including clusters of boarding houses and an increased demand on infrastructure.

Changes put forward by NSW Planning aimed at boosting the supply and quality of affordable housing – supporting low income earners and pensioners – as part of statewide changes to planning policies.

The reforms also propose a controversial incentive to see more boarding houses permitted across the region.

“In Council’s experience the clustering of boarding house developments is of concern as it can result in adverse impacts to local character and amenity of the area,” the submission stated.

L: Deputy Mayor of Penrith Mark Davies, Current Penrith Mayor Todd Carney

The NSW Government earmarked a decrease in minimum lot sizes, increasing building heights, adding bonuses for density increases and floor-space ratios, scrapping occupancy limits for hostels and expanding powers of government bodies to assess residential development.

Penrith’s Deputy Mayor Mark Davies labelled the reforms “a travesty”, for which he held “serious graves concerns.”

“To me it's a travesty of planning, when you consider what this council has worked up to and compare it do what the state government has done, it’s completely unbelievable,” Cr Davies said.

“It can be summarised as a complete undermining of our residents and the city we’ve been planning, all the work we’ve done in this process has been completely undone,”

Affordable housing in Jordan Springs,

In a stern submission to the department, council detail concerns arising from the reforms, which they argued “do not facilitate a sustainable and enduring solution to the affordable and social housing crisis.”

Topping the list of the submission’s concerns was the weakening of council’s authority over large-scale residential proposals, allowing for a wider range of developments to be greenlit, without the “expertise of council planners to inform quality outcomes.”

“The introduction of a one size fits all approach to a building height and floor-space-ratio bonus to achieve affordable housing is not supported. It is likely to result in conflict between capability of sites, poor amenity, unintended built form outcomes,” the submission stated.

Another area of contention outlined in the submission was the increase in housing density placing further burden on local services and infrastructure.

When approached for comment Penrith’s Mayor Todd Carney said Penrith Council “supports the delivery of affordable housing and social housing,”

‘The reforms do not facilitate sustainable and enduring solutions to the affordable and social housing crisis, and they undermine Council’s current evidence-based planning controls and strategic plans,” Mayor Carney said

“I would like to work with the NSW Government before the finalisation of any new housing targets for our area.”

The NSW Planning Department was contacted for comment.