Greens unveil housing policy

Debate over public housing was reignited this week with the Greens announcing a new affordable housing plan at South Sydney Hospital.

Work is steadily continuing at South Sydney Hospital, where one third of the property was transferred to affordable housing provider Citywest, who are preparing to construct 126 units. The Greens said the conversion of the property to affordable housing “was a big win for Sydney.”

City of Sydney Greens Councillor and Lord Mayoral candidate, Irene Doutney joined Federal Greens housing spokesman, Scott Ludlam, to unveil the “convert to rent” policy.

“We will be calling on all levels of government to support a convert to rent scheme in Sydney,” Ms Doutney said.

The convert to rent program encourages landlords to convert unused space into affordable housing for people on low incomes. Council would give financial assistance to property owners to convert their unused space into housing.

When questioned about the incentive for landlords, Ms Dountey said there would be a grant of $21,000 for each landlord that converted unused space into affordable housing. However, the rent price would have to be at 75 per cent below market rates for 20 years.

Ms Doutney said the policy was required the support of Federal funding. “The Greens hope that the Federal Government will have the sense to back this project so that we can address the housing crisis across the country,” she said.

Senator Ludlam was certain the Federal Greens would support the program with funding.

While the Greens declared that the transformation of South Sydney Hospital was a “win,” a spokesperson for the Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the transformation was positive. The spokesperson said the conversion of South Sydney Hospital was part of Council’s policy on public housing, not just the Greens.

The City of Sydney is committed to implementing the public housing targets set out in “Sustainable Sydney 2030.”

“So the City set an ambitious Sustainable Sydney 2030 target of 7.5 per cent of city housing being social housing, and 7.5 per cent being affordable rental housing delivered by ‘not-for-profit’ or other providers,” the spokesperson said.