Social housing: Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue call for approval of thousands of homes
More than 1600 hectares of land in Penrith, The Hills and Blue Mountains could be rezoned for thousands of affordable and social housing lots under a plan aimed at the government.
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Western Sydney leaders are touting an ambitious plan to revolutionise the affordable and social housing market in western Sydney — calling on the NSW government to open up thousands of hectares of greenfield, council and government-owned land currently under lock and key.
Under the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue blueprint, the Aboriginal Land Council would be able to rezone developable land across 10 Greater Western Sydney local government areas for social and affordable housing with “easy access to jobs, education, and the transport network”.
The report identifies a further 1620ha of greenfield land across western Sydney suitable for social and affordable housing under the future-focused vision.
The Dialogue’s Housing Reference Group, the creators of the action plan, includes Landcom, Lendlease, NAB, Frasers, community housing providers, EY and Deloitte, Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council, universities, government agencies and local councils.
Dialogue chair, Christopher Brown argued the government needed to address major shortfalls of as many as 67,000 homes in affordable housing targets across Greater Western Sydney.
“In 2016, Greater Western Sydney had only 46,000 available social and affordable housing dwellings to meet a need for 114,000,” Mr Brown told NewsLocal.
“This is clearly nowhere near good enough, and there is a need to explore every avenue available to unlock new supply.
“What we’ve put forward is a practical and ambitious approach that will fuel economic growth during these uncertain times and also ensure those facing housing stress or homelessness across the region can secure a roof over their head.”
The five-point action plan, released exclusively to NewsLocal, also issues a battle cry for mandatory 1km inclusion zones for 30 per cent affordable and social housing in any development within metro station precincts across the city’s west, while also calling for major maintenance to the current affordable housing stock.
“The region’s high employment reliance on residential construction jobs is at risk with COVID-related reductions in private housing demand, so a ramp up of social housing maintenance and development is a very timely initiative,” Mr Brown said.
The Dialogue study demands a state-funded $5 billion program for social housing maintenance to stimulate construction jobs, after it was revealed one in five public housing tenants live in dwellings that do not meet Australian standards.
Deerubin Aboriginal Land Council chief operating officer, Stephen Wright, and chief executive Kevin Cavanagh said the organisation is looking to develop Aboriginal housing across more than 600ha in Penrith, The Hills and Blue Mountains.
“We are already a housing provider of 47 homes for aboriginal people across greater western Sydney,” Mr Wright said.
“We are a significant land holder in Penrith, The Hawkesbury, Hills and Blue Mountains and are engaged in providing affordable, high quality housing at cost for aboriginal people.
“We would like to see government help organisations like ours to get planning rezonings to build affordable housing for people in need.”
Mr Wright said the need for housing in western Sydney was “dramatically increasing”, with plans in place for 350 hectares of residential development in the Penrith local government area, a further 100 hectares in The Hills and up to 200 hectares in the Blue Mountains.
In response to calls for the NSW Government to transfer 30,000 public housing properties to the community sector, Housing Minister Melinda Pavey said the government was looking at “innovative ways” to partner with the community sector.
Ms Pavey said the government supported initiatives by other land owners to deliver social housing on their land.
“A key focus of Land and Housing Corporation’s (LAHC) efforts to increase social and affordable housing in Western Sydney is coming about through the redevelopment of existing social housing estates and sites to create cohesive new communities,” Ms Pavey said.
“These redevelopment projects will help LAHC to deliver more than 1,300 new social homes in greater Western Sydney over the next three years.
”In September, construction commenced on a $96 million project which will create at least 262 new homes, including 53 social homes, in Lidcombe. The project will deliver an estimated 480 jobs as well as providing new social homes to support vulnerable people in an area of high demand.”
A Planning Department spokeswoman told NewsLocal it was working to meet the needs of a growing and changing population.
“The Department strongly supports the delivery of greater amounts of affordable rental housing across NSW, including areas surrounding existing and future Metro precincts that are supported by high levels of amenity and accessibility,” she said.
“We’ve changed planning rules and provided guidance to make it easier for councils to investigate and develop affordable housing schemes in their own areas.
“We are also continuing our work with Local Aboriginal Land Councils to help them achieve better planning outcomes from their landholdings.”
THE FIVE-POINT PLAN
SOCIAL AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING MAINTENANCE
Immediate investment in widespread maintenance and renovation works on existing social and affordable housing assets.
GOVERNMENT-COMMUNITY SECTOR ASSET TRANSFER
Stimulate asset renewal and a move to scale for the sector, the NSW Government should accelerate the transfer of its Western Sydney public housing stock to the community sector, in contestable tranches.
MANDATORY INCLUSIONARY ZONING AT METRO STATIONS
Transit-oriented developments 1km around station precincts must strike an appropriate balance between community expectations for the provision of social and affordable housing whilst maintaining a vibrant and profitable development sector.
UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL OF LOCAL ABORIGINAL LAND COUNCILS AS KEY AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROVIDERS
Increase the utilisation and consideration of Local Aboriginal Land Councils’ assets through planning, partnerships and private investment opportunities with CHPs and developers.
BETTER VISIBILITY OF STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
An open data approach to help promote development and partnership opportunities on underutilised public land.