The state’s nongovernment advocacy organization for low-moderate income people has criticized the concept plan for the Carlton United Brewery site in Sydney for not providing enough affordable housing.
Mary Perkins, Executive Officer of Shelter NSW, said the draft planning agreement on affordable housing is deficient in two aspects.
‘The first problem is that the developer proposes a contribution of no more than 3.1% of the project costs’, she said.
A maximum target of 3.1% does not compare well with current best practice. The affordable housing provisions in the Willoughby local environmental plan – which were set in 1995 – apply at a value equivalent of 4% of the floor space area of residential development.
Those target thresholds are now very low. The Legislative Assembly’s Public Bodies Review Committee, in a report from an inquiry into the allocation of social housing, tabled in parliament yesterday (October 26), recommended that Landcom should aim for 10% of its projects to be for moderate-income housing.
Shelter NSW believes an affordable housing target of 20% affordable housing would be reasonable for the Carlton United Brewery site.
‘This higher proportion is justified by the site’s size, immediate proximity to the state’s major railway node, and proximity to the central business district and to key state-significant institutions’, Ms Perkins said.
‘The second problem is that all the contribution will be paid to the Redfern-Waterloo Authority for affordable housing in the Authority’s operational area, with no dedicated affordable housing units in the redevelopment project itself.’
The development covers a large area, virtually a mini-suburb, and it is not healthy for the new community that will emerge not to include low-moderate income earners’, Ms Perkins said.
Contact:
Mary Perkins, Executive Officer – 0419 919 091 (m), 9267 5733 ext.14
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