30% affordable housing promised for Bays West

By LAUREN FROST

30% of the homes being built in stage two of the ‘Bays West’ development in Rozelle will be affordable and include key worker housing. The announcement by Minister for Cities Rob Stokes earlier this month revealed that nearly a third of housing would be kept affordable for teachers, nurses, emergency services personnel and low-income families. 

The re-zoning of the Bays West precinct is set to be the biggest overhaul of a harbourside precinct in Sydney since Barangaroo. Earlier this year, plans revealed that the re-zoning would allow for the construction of offices, cultural venues, public spaces, a Metro train station, and up to 250 apartments, including affordable housing. 

However, the initial plans for stage one of the Bays West development were met with criticism from the Greens as well as housing advocate group, Shelter NSW. Backlash over the initial plans came as no clear target was set for affordable housing. 

Inner West Greens Councillor, Kobi Shetty, told City Hub that the recent talk of the 30% affordable housing target is “very promising”. 

“We need to make sure that any public land being redeveloped puts public benefit first, so there absolutely needs to be a significant amount of public and social housing on the site,” Cr Shetty said. 

“With the current housing crisis, it would be both irresponsible and a huge lost opportunity for the state government not to deliver a decent amount of public and social housing onsite. So I am hopeful that they will follow through”. 

Although the new 30% target for affordable housing in the sub-precinct is a distinct improvement from earlier plans with a lack of clear target, there is still questions over whether this will be enough, and if the developers will follow through. 

Balmain Greens MP Jamie Parker told The Sydney Morning Herald that, “Thirty per cent affordable and key worker housing is a start, but the key issue here is this is publicly owned waterfront land, and rather than it being a real estate deal, it needs to be an area that benefits the people of NSW.” 

Parker is not the only political questioning the recent sell-offs of public land. Inner West Councillor Dylan Griffiths told City Hub that “premium public land should be used for public benefit, not real estate deals with developers”. 

“In the inner city we’ve seen a massive erosion of public housing. The Bay’s West development needs to also include public housing for Sydney. Increasing our public housing stock is key to alleviating the housing crisis.

“The state government needs to give council’s greater planning controls and enforcement mechanisms so we can deliver serious affordable housing contributions and prevent properties from being left vacant for long periods,” Cr Griffiths said. 

50,000 currently waiting for social housing

When asked if the 30% target would be enough to alleviate the current housing crisis, Cr Shetty said that reaching this target “won’t be enough to alleviate the housing crisis.” 

“Over 50,000 households are on NSW’s social housing waiting list. The state government needs to stop selling off the public housing they do have and invest heavily in building new public and social housing for people who need it.

People can’t afford to be waiting 10 years for a safe place to live. Developments like the Bays West provide an important opportunity for desperately needed housing for our community”, Cr Shetty said. 

Housing advocacy groups are also reluctant to praise the 30% affordable housing target for the Rozelle sub-precinct. 

“Unfortunately, 30% affordable housing won’t alleviate the housing crisis,” said Alistair Sisson, spokesperson for Action for Public Housing and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sydney. 

“The Bays West precinct needs to prioritise public housing, especially given it’s public land. There are more than 50,000 households on the waiting list for public housing and this project will do nothing to reduce that number.” 

Unfortunately, the Bays West development is not the only development plan under fire for not adequately considering public housing. The recent rezoning of the Waterloo public housing estate will affect about 2000 tenants, many of whom are vulnerable to being pushed out of their homes as early as 2023.