Skills and materials shortages clearly have an impact on the delivery capacity of the residential construction sector. This announcement by Pacific Link Community Housing is a good reminder then, that buying existing dwellings can sometimes be the quickest path to offering a secure home to those on the social housing waiting list.
Pacific Link has purchased 37 dwellings in the Central Coast and in Telarah (near Maitland) using an $8 million grant from the NSW Government. This is one of the first projects delivered under NSW’s share of the Commonwealth-funded Social Housing Accelerator Fund. That program allows for new builds, spot purchasing (like this one) and renovating or refurbishing uninhabitable stock. The 37 dwellings will be offered as 31 social tenancies and 6 affordable rental homes.
We are particularly pleased to see action in these parts of NSW – with both Maitland and Central Coast Local Government Areas being in the top 5 regional LGAs in our 2023 Regional Housing Report focused on a range of housing ‘red flags’.
Earlier this year Bridge Housing used a similar approach to buy an existing mid-size unit block in Sydney’s inner suburb of Glebe. A relatively inexpensive upgrade has quickly led to twenty local Aboriginal women being able to take up tenancies in the building. That project was supported by a $7.8 million grant from the City of Sydney.