Hospital site – a step closer to affordable housing target

Richard Perkins, General Manager of CWH, said they would now enter into negotiations with Council to agree on the form of development. CWH is well placed to deliver affordable housing on the site having a demonstrated track record of affordable housing developments in Glebe and Waterloo.

“We will be working closely with Council to achieve a high quality outcome that fits in with their affordable housing strategies,” said Mr Perkins.

Greens Councillors Chris Harris and Irene Doutney, who lobbied both State and Federal Ministers to get the council to approve the site, are pleased to see the project finally coming to fruition, but Cr Harris believes there is more that can and should be done to increase the stock of affordable housing in the city. 

“Since Cr Doutney was elected in 2008 we have been at the Council to set up an affordable housing strategy, and to the credit of the CEO, they did that,” said Cr Harris.

The City’s Affordable Housing Strategy (AHS) aims to enable more key low-income workers, such as cleaners and child care workers, to live in the communities in which they work. The ASH is also part of a broader strategy-Sustainable Sydney 2030, which aims to make the city a more environmentally sustainable and pleasant place to live.

“Aside from being an equity issue, it’s also an important environmental issue. We don’t want to house all of the people on low incomes in Mt Druit. You have to provide all the infrastructure needed to get people to and from work. The roads are already choked with traffic and there is lots of pressure on public transport,” said Cr Harris.

The strategy outlines a set of actions the Council can take to achieve the 15 per cent target by 2030. One is to identify land already owned by it, such as the hospital site, which may be appropriate for affordable housing because of its location, proximity to transport and so on.

The South Sydney Hospital became part of the Council’s property portfolio after the amalgamation of the Sydney and South Sydney Councils. It was initially earmarked as a cash cow to support infrastructure needs in Green Square, but in 2008 Cr Harris set the ball rolling by putting an independent motion to council raising its potential for affordable housing. 

“It’s such a valuable strategic piece of real estate. It’s virtually right next door to Green Square Station, so there’s good public transport into the city. If it were sold, we would never be able to buy that again, said Cr Harris.

So far only one third of the site has been designated for affordable housing, so there is scope for more housing on that site. “Personally, I would not support selling any of the asset. Whether or not we can convince the people who hold the purse strings at Town Hall is another thing,” said Cr Harris.

Cr Harris also believes more could be done on the State and Federal levels. “One of the strategies was to put a 4 per cent levy on all DAs in the City, this would enable us to build 2000 apartments, but we needed to get State Government approval and they didn’t support that,”  said Cr Harris.

 “The South Sydney hospital is a good start. I’d like to see the Feds and the State come up with other initiatives to put more housing on that site.”

Source: South Sydney Herald April 2010 www.southsydneyherald.com.au