Affordable Housing Missing from Sydney Plan

The NSW Government’s new plan for housing and jobs in Sydney fails to include any plans to expand the provision of social and affordable housing, according to the peak body for the non government community services sector in NSW, NCOSS.

NCOSS says it welcomes the Government’s ‘Super Saturday’ announcement detailing plans for up to 171,000 new homes and employment areas for almost 80,000 new jobs in Sydney.

However, is says that the Government’s announcement includes no target for the expansion of social and affordable housing in Sydney.

"There is no question that we need a clear plan to accommodate Sydney’s expected population growth and to provide more jobs closer to home," NCOSS Director Alison Peters said.

“A sufficient proportion of the new housing announced on Saturday will only be affordable for low income and moderate households if there are explicit targets and strategies to make this happen. Otherwise we risk Sydney becoming a global city in which increasingly the poor cannot afford to live.

"We also welcome the fact that the Government has tried to better integrate land use and transport planning by targeting growth on new rail corridors, including the Epping to
Chatswood Rail Link, the North West Rail Link and the planned CBD and South East
Sydney light rail project.

“Having addressed the linkage between transport and land use planning, the missing
element is the link between land use planning and the provision of human services. Just
what plans does the Government have to ensure that a growing Sydney population has
the necessary services it needs?," she said.