The Minns government has been accused of breaking a key election promise on affordable housing. Labor pledged during the last election to deliver 30 percent social and affordable housing in all developments on government-owned land. However, opposition parties claim that one of the first building projects announced by the government fails to meet these targets.
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00:0020 minutes from the CBD with buses to the door.
00:07This site on Parramatta Road in Camperdown is one of the first parcels of government
00:12owned land earmarked for development.
00:16There's a big pipeline, we'll be releasing them progressively over coming months.
00:20Ahead of last year's election, Labor made a clear commitment.
00:25Any properties built on surplus government land will be subject to Labor's mandatory
00:30requirement for 30% of dwellings to be used for social, affordable and universal housing.
00:38But it turns out that won't apply in this case.
00:41It is a broken promise.
00:43We understand that they're entirely going to be market properties, so all private development,
00:48no social or affordable housing at all on this site.
00:51The government says the plan is for 100 private homes to be built by a developer.
00:57If this site here is A, sold off to private interests and B, doesn't actually have any
01:03social affordable housing on it, it's a clear breach of their commitments.
01:06The Camperdown site sits in the electorate of Greens MP, Cobi Shetty.
01:11With RPA Hospital just around the corner, she says it offers a rare opportunity to build
01:17housing for key workers in the inner city.
01:21We can't have a situation where we're continuing to have these important workers, nurses and
01:25teachers being priced out of the neighbourhoods that they work in and making it harder and
01:29harder for them to live in this city.
01:32The Housing Minister, Rose Jackson, wasn't available for an interview, but in a statement
01:36she said the 30% affordable housing figure was now an overall target, rather than one
01:43required for every site.
01:45Urban planner, Nicole Gurren, would like to see affordable housing targets for all new
01:50developments, public and private.
01:54Cities like London, for instance, that have similar affordability pressures to Sydney,
01:58now require that 50% of homes, particularly on government sites, be affordable.
02:03It's certainly an aspiration that we should be moving towards in Sydney.
02:07Another 40 parcels of public land identified for new housing will be announced in the coming
02:14months.
02:15For more information, visit www.cityofkingston.gov.au