Two of the five least affordable suburbs in Greater Sydney are in the Wentworth Electorate where more than 45% rent and over 20,000 are employed as essential workers.
Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler (pictured) was happy to join Joey Maloney from the Grattan Institute at the Wentworth Housing Forum hosted by Allegra Spender, MP for the federal seat of Wentworth in Sydney’s east. The event attended by close to 90 people was addressed by Ms Spender who spoke to her five goals for the Wentworth electorate:
- younger people buying / renting without parental support
- 40 minute commute for resident essential workers
- maintaining social housing
- normalising renting over owning
- affordable housing access for the vulnerable
During his presentation John noted that the Wentworth electorate is:
- well placed to incentivise Affordable Rental Housing through localised planning pathways (for example Waverley LGA)
- pulling its weight when it comes to density – with only 17% in separate houses compared to 56% for Greater Sydney and more than half the total population of the electorate in apartments (62%) compared to 31% for the rest of Greater Sydney (ABS 2021).
At Shelter NSW we always call for all levels of Government to work together to solve the housing crisis. We thank the Member for Wentworth for her focus on this and invitation to attend.
For more information:
- Closing the Divide: essential workers, Australian cities and Covid-19 SGS Economics (2021)
- Rental Affordability Index undertaken by SGS Economics and Planning (2022) for National Shelter https://sgsep.com.au/projects/rental-affordability-index