Affordable Housing Tenants Segregated In Barangaroo Apartment Block

Affordable housing tenants living in Barangaroo’s Watermans Residences are facing segregated treatment, highlighting the huge disparities in the government’s affordable housing policies.

As per The Guardian, residents paying discounted rent in the 50 apartments classified as affordable at One Sydney Harbour are not permitted access to the building’s gym or swimming pool, with their common spaces restricted to a deck on level two and an indoor communal kitchen and dining area.

They’re also forced to use a seperate entrance to enter the building, with occupants in the other 162 units allowed to access their homes through the main foyer with a concierge desk.

Greens’ housing spokesperson, Jenny Leong says the treatment was representative of the wider housing crisis across the state.

“Every day it is increasingly apparent that solutions that rely on greedy property developers to ‘do the right thing’ with minimal government oversight are fundamentally not about making housing more affordable but are about finding new ways to profit within old hierarchies,” she said.

“This is what happens when you give even more control over so-called “affordable housing” to developers, whose main concern is maximising profit regardless of social impact – of course they’ve turned affordable housing requirements intended to foster inclusion into yet another tool for exclusion and division between the wealthy and everyone else.”

Landlend, the developers behind Barangaroo South, agreed to allocate 2.3 per cent of the residential gross floor area for key worker housing in a deal with the NSW government in 2010. These homes are owned and managed by St George Community Housing, and must remain below market rent for 20 years.

“Our affordable housing customers at this property pay 75% of market rent, which is significantly less than what they would pay in the private rental market,” a spokesperson for SGCH told The Guardian.

“These homes offer secure, well-located housing for key workers and others who might otherwise be priced out of the communities they support.”

“Affordability” in the inner-city a thing of the past

New incentives introduced last year allow developers up to 30 per cent of additional height and floorspace, provided that 10-15 per cent of the units are designated as affordable housing, classified as 20 per cent below market rent for 15 years.

However, tenants are also unable to exceed certain income thresholds. Those living in Barangaroo South must not earn more than the annual income threshold of $100,875 for singles and $151,357 for two adults without children in order to qualify for discounted rent.

With rents consistently rising across the city, it’s nearly impossible for those at the income threshold to afford discounted rent in desirable, inner-city locations.

“This segregated tower perfectly encapsulates how dystopian housing in NSW has become, and underscores why market-led solutions will never solve the housing crisis that the market itself created,” said Leong said.