NSW Premier Admits State Trails Behind on Housing Development

Public housing towers is seen in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 16, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), is falling behind in building enough homes to cater for its growing population.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has revealed that around 48,000 homes were built in the state in the past year, well below the annual target set at the national cabinet meeting in the week ending Aug. 20.

During the meeting, the federal and state governments agreed to construct 1.2 million houses over five years from July 1, 2024, with NSW committing to erect 75,000 homes each year.

However, real estate experts believed it was unlikely to be achieved because the new target was more ambitious than the previous goal of 1 million homes.

Mr. Minns also acknowledged that it was quite challenging for NSW to increase the housing supply.

“We have a bigger population, a bigger increase in rent prices, a bigger increase in housing prices, more migrants moving to this state than any other state over the next two years ... and yet we’re dramatically lagging behind the [next] biggest state, Victoria,” he said, noting that Victoria built 58,000 homes in the last 12 months.

“We’ve got a long way to go when it comes to supply of housing; social, affordable and private rental, as well as private sale in NSW.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns speaks to the media during a press conference at NSW State Parliament, Sydney, Australia, on June 4, 2021. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

To tackle the housing shortages, the premier believed NSW should opt for high-quality apartments and denser living like in other metropolitans such as New York, Paris, and London.

“My argument is we can do that in Sydney and it’s a far better way of growing the city than adding another street to the western fringe of Sydney every other week,” he told ABC Radio.

Echoing the sentiment, NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson said expanding outward was not the best solution to increasing housing supply.

“This government’s been really clear from the beginning that we are going to need to see more density if we’re going to solve the housing crisis,” she said.

NSW to Boost Social and Affordable Housing in Waterloo South

As Mr. Minns elaborated on the difficulties facing NSW, he announced a plan to include more low-cost homes in the redevelopment of the south of Waterloo estate, one of Australia’s largest areas for social housing.

The Waterloo South precinct covers an area of 12.32 hectares in Sydney’s s inner south and currently includes 749 social housing units owned by NSW Land and Housing Corporation.

In March 2021, the precinct was flagged for redevelopment to increase the number of affordable housing in the area.

Under the new plan, at least half of the 3,000 homes to be built in the estate will be social and affordable housing, up from 34 percent in the previous proposal.

At the same time, 15 percent of those low-cost homes will be earmarked for Aboriginal people to help close the gap between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

The premier also vowed to have better consultations with residents who were subjected to relocation during the redevelopment.

The state will need to move hundreds of tenants from mid-2024 during the construction phase but will provide them with the right to return once the renewal is complete.

“Everyone in this community will be relocated within this community,” Ms. Jackson said.

“We have two sites that are coming online specifically for this purpose.”

Despite the NSW government’s assurance, many residents still felt uncertain about the new redevelopment plan.

Citing a lack of communication, they complained about not knowing the time frame for reallocation and the identity of their future landlords.

Meanwhile, the community activism group Action for Public Housing criticised the new development plan, saying it would force nearly 1,000 tenants to relocate and turn the estate into mostly private housing.

“It is not clear how the government expects to keep tenants within their community, given the shortage of public housing,” the group said.

“Claims of a right of return are mere political rhetoric when the development is expected to take ten years or more.”