Business leaders demand essential worker housing when Wentworth Park is demolished
Sydney faces missing a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to house essential workers unless the government acts on a massive Wentworth Park redevelopment, business groups warn.
Business leaders want the NSW Government to back Sydney’s “forgotten workers” when greyhounds are banished from Wentworth Park to support a new city-fringe residential development.
As reported in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, racing at the track will cease in 2027, the facility demolished and sporting fields created to complement up to 4800 homes planned for the precinct, including on the old fish market site at Blackwattle Bay.
Premier Chris Minns says the Wentworth Park revamp, by delivering increased public and recreation space, could also be the driver for a further 2500 homes.
Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said demolishing the greyhound track after 93 years in operation was a bet that should have a significant pay day.
“While the decision is potentially controversial, it represents a significant opportunity to help address Sydney’s critical housing shortage,” he said.
“However, to strengthen our city’s economic and social fabric, we must ensure that nurses, teachers, police, paramedics, hospitality staff and other essential workers can afford to live nearer to where they work.
“This redevelopment must include dedicated affordable and essential worker housing as part of its core design, not as an afterthought. Too often our essential workers have been forgotten when it comes to housing.”
Mr Nicolaou said housing affordability was a major constraint on Sydney’s productivity with workers shut-out of the real estate market or having to travel the significant distances between the homes they could afford and their places of employment.
“Every day, we hear from businesses struggling to attract and retain staff because workers simply can’t afford to live in Sydney,” he added.
“Ensuring essential worker housing is a key component of this project will support our workforce, our businesses and our long-term competitiveness as a global city.”
David Borger, Chair of Housing Now agreed: “Sydney needs more homes, and this project has the scale to make a real difference.
“But unless the Government locks in a commitment to deliver a significant portion of genuinely affordable, essential worker housing, we will miss a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
“Essential workers are the backbone of our communities. Housing them close to jobs, transport and services is not only fair, it is smart planning and good economics.
“This site should become a national benchmark for mixed-income, well-planned urban renewal.”
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Originally published as Business leaders demand essential worker housing when Wentworth Park is demolished
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