New cheap housing project labelled future ‘ghetto’

By Roje Adaimy

The City of Sydney and NSW Government’s joint $260 million affordable housing project in Glebe has gained considerable support from locals, but some have expressed concerns that it would force the creation of ‘ghettos’.
The 700 new social and private housing units will be built on 3.6 hectares, across the Bay Street Depot site and an adjacent block that already houses public units.
Liberal Councillor Shayne Mallard said that this development will merely add to the already high concentration of large public housing estates in the area, where police and other government agencies struggle to maintain order.
“Concentrating more affordable and social housing in the [City’s] inner-west will only increase community concerns about creating ghettos of social and economic disadvantage,” he said.
Cr Mallard questioned why the development was proposed in Glebe, given that Council recently asked the NSW Department of Housing to provide private security guards to patrol housing estates in the area.
“Why not consider breaking up the concentrates with opportunities in the Green Square, Broadway brewery site and new developing areas'” he said. “This could involve innovative development solutions such as land swaps and rezoning bonuses for affordable housing provision in new developments.”
Fellow Councillor, State Member for Balmain and Glebe local, Verity Firth, said the plan will benefit hundreds of people who can’t afford to live in the city and will not serve as an area of social disadvantage.
“The housing will be a mix of affordable and social housing and I hardly see how having nurses, bus drivers and cleaners in the area – the types of occupations targeted for this housing – will create a ‘ghetto’,” Cr Firth said.
She said that by releasing land for affordable housing would address part of the problem of mortgage and rental stress that many Sydney residents are now facing.
The project is part of the State Government’s Metropolitan Strategy, Inner West Strategy for social, and the City’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision.
“There is an urgent need for more affordable housing close to the city, to ensure people employed in essential services can afford to live close to where they work,” Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
“As in other major cities around the world, it is increasingly difficult for people employed in essential services to live close to work, making it difficult to attract and retain key workers.”
Questions were also raised by Cr Mallard over the transparency of the deal that saw Clover Moore donate the $30 million Bay Street Depot site to the project without consent from Council. 
According to Cr Mallard, councillors weren’t advised or consulted, and did not find out about the project until it was announced publicly last Tuesday. 
The estimated cost of the project will be partially funded by private housing sales and could take up to five years to complete.