The long-awaited announcement for the plans to develop the Bays West Precinct in Rozelle arrived earlier this month, to a mixed response. Government’s plan to transform underutilised public land on the edge of the Sydney CBD for housing and urban renewal is welcome. However, the government’s lack of commitment to provide better housing for people on lower incomes is noticeable.
Despite an election commitment of delivering at least 30% public or community and/or affordable housing on surplus public land, NSW Government has announced that 10% of dwellings will be dedicated to affordable and essential worker housing in perpetuity. This is less than the 15% affordable housing commitment on comparable TOD 1 sites. And it does nothing to address exploding demand for housing affordable to people on very-low and low incomes across the state. Disappointingly, the NSW government’s own financial analysis acknowledges that a contribution rate of up to 30% would be feasible.
Unfortunately, this rather lacklustre commitment to very-low income housing is becoming part of a larger pattern. Despite earlier hopes of the contrary, well-located, high-amenity publicly owned sites are being primarily developed for the private market with social and affordable housing seen as an afterthought. Ultimately, the question that must be asked of government is that if well-located government land is not the appropriate location to meet its own social and affordable housing targets – increasingly seen as part of ‘essential infrastructure’ in Sydney, then where is?
As many in the media have noted, the urban renewal of Glebe Island will create a new residential suburb minutes away from the CBD and the Inner West. This is an opportunity, if used correctly, that could begin to reshape our city towards a more inclusive and diverse one, making a sizeable dent in housing stress. The prospect of social housing, mixed in with essential, affordable and private dwellings, establishing a community of tradespeople, shopkeepers, cleaners, teachers, and business professionals close to transport, pleasant open space, and a cultural precinct, need not be a fantasy. In fact, this design would pay fitting homage to the historical working-class roots of the Balmain Peninsula and Glebe.
As cost of living pressures continue to increase, as well as the number of people seeking SHS assistance and/or joining the social housing waitlist, the rhetoric of ‘supply-at-all-costs’ is wearing thin. Despite planning reforms, pre-finance guarantee schemes, and an obsession with dwelling approval and completion numbers, affordability is not improving. The private sector is by nature profit driven. It will continue to deliver housing where and when it is profitable, to the people who can pay for it. It is government’s role to step in to provide housing when and where it’s not, for those who need it most.
On the current trajectory, the government risks building a playground for the wealthy only in the inner city, where family friendly affordable apartments are rare and unaffordable to most – partially subsidised by taxpayers increasingly relegated to the peripheries. We do not accept this as inevitable, neither do we see it as unavoidable. It is imperative that city-shaping projects, like the new Bays West precinct, are designed and built to accommodate all.