Image: Credit Lucinda Varney/City of Sydney
The City of Sydney has launched a new discussion paper aimed at sparking public conversation about how and where more housing can be delivered locally, as the city grapples with an ongoing affordability crisis.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore AO has called on residents to engage with the Housing for All discussion paper, emphasising that “affordable housing is essential for a diverse, cohesive and economically successful global city, and more importantly, is a basic human right.”
“All levels of government, industry and the community must rise to meet the housing affordability challenge and deliver the homes our city needs,” the Lord Mayor said. She noted that the NSW Government’s draft Sydney Plan expects councils to review planning controls to increase private housing development.
The discussion paper seeks feedback on three key questions: where and how more homes can be planned, how the NSW Government can support housing growth, and how housing can meet the diverse needs of the community.
“Our planners believe that through zoning changes, increased building densities or heights, and incentives for more homes in strategic locations, we could create space for thousands of new homes, on top of existing zoned capacity,” the Lord Mayor said.
Since 2004, the City of Sydney has approved over 66,000 new homes, meeting 77% of its previous NSW Government-allocated housing target within nine years. There are nearly 18,000 more homes in the current development pipeline.
The discussion paper identifies 10 potential locations for additional housing, including Ultimo and Pyrmont, North Green Square precinct, Prince Alfred Park east, Broadway, Parramatta Road at Forest Lodge, Beaconsfield, high streets, park-side living areas, laneways, and the Supa Centre site near Moore Park.
The Lord Mayor stressed the importance of government-led investment, saying, “It is critical that alongside this process, the NSW Government provides the infrastructure needed to support growth, and that it looks at its own sites suitable for housing in our area, including on vacant and underutilised Transport for NSW land.”
She also highlighted the need for targeted affordable housing, stating, “We can’t just rezone land for private development and hope some of it will be affordable or expect the private sector to address these diverse needs. We need targeted government investment in affordable and diverse housing.”
Public consultation on the Housing for All discussion paper is open until 22 May, with workshops and information sessions planned to guide community input.
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