In a publication co-sponsored by PAYCE and St George Community Housing, the Committee for Sydney released a publication titled – A City for All, Five Game Changers for Affordable Housing.
The Committee for Sydney launched the publication at an event hosted by PAYCE at the Museum of Sydney Warrane Theatre on Thursday 13 May 2015. The publication outlines 5 innovative ideas to tackle Sydney’s lack of affordable housing.
The report details simple steps that the NSW Government can take to achieve a significant increase in access to affordable housing for low-middle income households and have a positive impact for all Sydneysiders suffering housing stress.
It examines not just the issue of supply but public policy and specific interventions that meet the needs of diverse groups, including key workers such as medical staff, teachers and emergency services employees, understanding that supply alone will not achieve a city accessible for all.
The five game-changers for Sydney include:
- Maximise the use of public land. Government holds significant land, whether it’s Transport for NSW holding land next to train stations, or the Ministry for Health with land next to hospitals. We recommend that the NSW Government audit its entire land-bank in Sydney to identify the potential sites for affordable housing initiatives.
- Transfer public housing stock to the community housing sector. Community housing providers are offering better outcomes for vulnerable and marginalised people than the Government is. Transferring stock will allow them to expand their offering and use their stock to leverage more private investment and create more housing.
- Government incentives to trigger private investment into affordable housing. Leveraging the Premier’s $1b new social and affordable housing fund to support private investment.
- Invest significantly in the existing public housing stock. Ensuring properties are used to improve the lives of the people on the margins and make the next step on the housing ladder that much easier.
- Create the conditions in which private sector developers can deliver a proportion of affordable homes in all developments. The private sector is supportive of ‘inclusionary zoning’ under the right conditions. The key is for developers to know before they buy the land what the obligations will be so that these can be factored into the purchase price.
These ideas highlight the necessity of collaboration between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and the need for Government to understand the role it can play. There is great potential for the Government to use its resources – land, regulatory and planning tools – to enable the private sector and community housing providers to make a difference to the provision of affordable housing in Sydney.
Dominic Sullivan, General Manager of PAYCE Consolidated, also highlighted that affordable housing is a fundamental issue for Sydney and one which Payce is passionate about. “PAYCE are thrilled to have collaborated on this paper with the Committee and see this as a positive step forward in identifying real and deliverable solutions. We’re proud of the work we’ve done at Washington Park, Riverwood, offering not just affordable housing but amenities, open spaces and community. We are keen to continue collaborating with the private, public and not-for-profit sectors to determine and implement more tangible solutions to this crisis facing Sydney,” he went on to say.
No one sector has the answer to this issue. These game-changers are a starting point for a debate, encouraging innovative thinking and collaboration and aiming to bring about solutions to benefit all those affected by Sydney’s lack of affordable housing options.
