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Choice sites for cheaper housing

THE City of Sydney is considering selling more than $30 million worth of prime inner-city real estate to developers who will build affordable housing reports Paul Bibby Sydney Morning Herald Urban Affairs on 24 November 2009.

The arrangement, which would provide housing for less than market rates, is an attempt to address the critical shortage of cheap housing in the city.

In a move that could see inner-city ratepayers subsidising affordable housing, the council will seek expressions of interest from the market to buy or lease six large properties it owns in Darlinghurst, Green Square, Redfern, Waterloo and Ultimo.

Potential buyers or renters could be offered a price below the market rate in return for a guarantee that they would include affordable housing in their plans for the site, with council staff estimating more than 200 affordable housing units could be built.

Real estate agents said properties being considered for sale or lease included some of the most valuable real estate in the inner-city. They include:

* 110-122 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, which has an estimated market  value of $12 million.

* 3 Joynton Avenue, Green Square - estimated market value: $20 million.

* 77 Kellick Street, Waterloo - estimated market value: from $1 million to $2 million.

The council will also seek expressions of interest on a portion of its 9000-square metre property on Bay Street, Ultimo - potentially one of the largest sales the suburb has seen in the past decade.

The sales manager of Oxford Real Estate, Dominic D'Ettorre, expressed shock that the council was considering affordable housing in the properties it owned on Oxford Street.

''It is ridiculous to consider affordable housing or any kind of housing in that area - it's a retail strip,'' he said.

''If they're thinking of getting the best value, which is exactly what they should be doing for their ratepayers, they should be looking at commercial operators. It would be senseless to make it residential.''

The City of Sydney's chief executive, Monica Barone, conceded that the council could get more for the six properties by putting them on the open market, but said providing affordable housing was part of the city's broader social responsibility.

''The City of Sydney has properties which are not meeting our current needs and we're simply seeing whether there are people out there who are willing to use them for affordable housing,'' Ms Barone said.

The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said the average rent for a two-bedroom home in inner Sydney had risen from $350 to $500 a week between 2002 and 2009. This was forcing low-income city workers to travel vast distances to work each day.

''Affordable housing is essential to a socially and economically sustainable city,'' Cr Moore said. ''A dynamic and healthy city contains a mix of accommodation types - not a segregated city with an increasing gulf between the haves and the have-nots.''

Among the other council properties being considered for sale or lease are the Reg Murphy Centre, on Greenknowe Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, and a large property on Gibbons Street, Redfern.

Source: www.smh.com.au/national/choice-sites-for-cheaper-housing-20091123-iz84.html