Affordable Housing

FIVE YEAR PLAN NEEDED TO ADDRESS HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IN NSW

Yesterday’s welcome announcement of measures to address Australia’s housing affordability problem needs to be followed by a five year plan to expand the provision of affordable rental housing in NSW, according to the State’s peak welfare organisation.

It is clear that the housing affordability problem is particularly acute in Sydney, and large parts of NSW, according to Alison Peters, Director of the Council of Social Service of NSW (NCOSS) and Mary Perkins, Executive Officer, Shelter NSW.

With the current Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (CSHA) due to expire in June, NCOSS and Shelter NSW want the NSW and Commonwealth Governments to join together to deliver an additional 25,000 affordable rental housing dwellings in NSW by June 2013.

“It’s time for all levels of Government to follow up good announcements with concrete plans”, Ms Peters said.

“For a relatively modest investment by the NSW and Commonwealth Governments, NCOSS and Shelter NSW believe that it would be possible to have 16,500 extra dwellings in NSW under the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) within five years for low to moderate income households”.

“NCOSS believes that because of cuts to the housing budget under the previous Federal Government that meant the supply of public and community housing did not keep pace with growing need, there has to be a parallel investment in public and community housing which is predominantly targeted at people on very low and low incomes, who often have special needs that make it difficult for them to survive in the private market”, Ms Perkins said.

NCOSS has proposed in its NSW Pre Budget Submission for 2008-09 that the supply of public and community housing dwellings in NSW should be expanded by 5,000 over the next five years. To achieve this would require substantial capital funding contributions by both the NSW and Commonwealth Governments.

“NCOSS and Shelter also believe that the planning system can be used much more effectively than it is at the moment to contribute to the provision of affordable rental housing. Where major urban redevelopment projects are occurring on State or Commonwealth owned land, or are a by-product of massive government infrastructure investment, there is a strong case for ensuring that a proportion of the new housing stock is reserved for low to moderate income households”.

“In Ultimo, Pyrmont and Green Square we have seen several hundred new affordable housing dwellings provided, with contributions from the NSW and Commonwealth Governments and developers”, Ms Perkins said.

“The State Government’s Metropolitan Strategy is based on the assumption that most of Sydney’s future housing growth will occur in established areas, close to major centres. We cannot afford to see low to moderate income households driven out of these areas because of the lack of planning for affordable housing”, said Ms Peters.

Media Contacts

Alison Peters, NCOSS 0425 231 814 (m) (02) 9211 2599 (wk)

Mary Perkins, Shelter NSW 0419 919 091 (mob) (02) 9267 5733 (wk)







NCOSS

66 Albion Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

ph: 9211 2599

fx: 9281 1968

email: info@ncoss.org.au

website: www.ncoss.org.au