Affordable Housing Pilot Welcomed, More Needed

Train precincts in Greater Sydney will be targeted in a key worker housing trial to unlock land supply, but it will do little to meet the state’s housing targets.

The New South Wales Department of Planning has forecast an additional 151,000 homes would be built over the next five years, well below the 40,000 per year needed according to the NSW Housing Strategy released in 2021. 

Under the Affordable Housing Pilot Program, key workers would have access to more than 300 new affordable homes under the pilot program to be rolled out across NSW government-owned rail precincts. 

The targeted areas included Bayside, Blacktown, Inner West and Cumberland local government areas, which Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes said would make use of underutilised space.

“From carers to cleaners to café workers, the people who keep our city functioning should not have to travel more than an hour to get to and from work,” Stokes said. 

“This new innovative model will empower stakeholders such as community housing providers to do their work without the barrier of having to raise large amounts of capital for the purchase of land.”

Property Council’s acting NSW executive director Adina Cirson said the council had advocated for the smarter use of government-owned land to tackle housing supply and affordability.

But Cirson said build-to-rent should also be included in the transit-oriented high-density housing and the plan should be rolled out to the regions.

▲ Redfern is among the suburbs targeted for the government’s pilot housing program aimed at key workers.

“The NSW government sits on vast swathes of land that could be released for development to keep key workers in their jobs and on the frontline,” Cirson said.

“While we welcome this intervention, the NSW government needs to go further to maximise overall density around transport hubs across the state. The NSW government should build on this pilot and set targets for higher density housing around key transport hubs to make better use of existing infrastructure and take pressure out of the market.”

Cirson said build-to-rent should be incorporated in the transport node developments to further enhance housing supply.

“Build-to-rent provides a diverse housing solution that can deliver more rental market homes to the community while also delivering on the government’s ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing,” Cirson said.

“In order to unlock the full potential of this asset-class, the NSW government should consider inclusion of build-to-rent within the pilot sites and we look forward to further discussing how this can best be done.

“Ultimately, the only way to ensure the affordability crisis doesn’t become an economic crisis is to increase housing supply.”

Registrations are open to deliver the first tranche of homes at sites in the Bayside, Blacktown, Inner West and Cumberland local government areas.

Future tranches of the pilot program will deliver additional affordable homes in locations across the Six Cities and in regional communities across NSW.

Join us on Thursday, October 27 when Australia’s leading developers, investors, designers and advisors working within the sector present the different models for developing affordable housing at The Urban Developer Affordable and Social Housing vSummit.