To Build… or Not to Build,
That is the Question
The housing crisis in New South Wales has been a topic of concern for many years, with the biggest cost of living pressure for many households being housing. The Minns Labor Government is taking direct action to tackle the issue.
Announcing a snap rezone of 31 locations across NSW, allowing 138,000 new homes to be created within 400m of metro or suburban rail stations and town centres. These bold new reforms might not please everyone, but it’s a fair option to level the rental and housing playing fields for young people who want to start in or near Sydney.
Now, yes, this will increase housing density, and yes, your local suburbs might see some change in the landscape, but something has got to give. It’s unsettling to hear residents are so against providing a greater variety of housing options amid Australia’s worsening rental crisis. It’s time to stop playing musical chairs with the housing market and give everyone a place to sit.
The NSW government will also force councils to lift bans on building low- and medium-density housing near transport hubs, town centres, and other well-located areas.
The stations that will be rezoned include local areas like Gordon, Killara, Lindfield, and Roseville.
Member for Willoughby Tim James commented on the changes to NSW planning rules in his recent community E-Update.
“There is no question we need more housing, and I support the need for an ambitious approach to lifting housing supply, but development and density must be done right.”
“These plans are half baked, lack sufficient community consultation or investment in supporting infrastructure and would come at the expense of heritage and environment.”
Mr. James firing up his own community petition timjamesmp.com.au/planning petition to send a message to the Premier and NSW government to rethink proposals.
Others in the Council believe that scaremongering tactics are at play to lock out the next generation of housing. And the suggestion that a residential development proposal would be automatically approved with no assessment is plain wrong and intended to frighten communities.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully took a justified swipe at some outrageous claims.
“The NSW government is interested in density done well, not fear campaigns with no basis in reality.”
“The suggestion that NSW Government reforms will allow outcomes like Bondi beach to be plunged into darkness are absurd.”
“Scaremongering will mean another generation of young people get locked out of the housing market.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns spoke on Sky News on February 20th, commenting,
“What we have said is we want this level of density around this local train station. If the local Council comes to us saying there’s a better way of delivering it, we’re completely agnostic about it. What we can’t have is everybody saying we’re not prepared to take anything and were not prepared to negotiate.”
Turning the heat up on our local councils, Minns threatened to take planning powers away from councils if no real genuine progress is made.
Feeling the premiers’ pinch, Ku-ring-gai Mayor Sam Ngai responded to Minns’ interview. Writing to the premiere on February 20th, reaching out for a discussion on why Ku-ring-gai is particularly impacted by the housing changes.
Member for Wahroonga, Alister Henskens SC MP, also shared his colourful opinion on his concerns, making a submission to the NSW Department of Planning. A well-written submission, however, is left longing for any tangible solutions or possible cooperation of any extent.
With submissions to the department now closed, Mr. Henskens has also joined in on the petition fun, creating one of his own, visit https://form.123formbuilder.com/6607434/my-form for the community to have a say on the planning changes.
It’s a classic ‘watch this space’ sort of debacle. Housing is needed, we know that. Young Australians are facing one of the scarcest rental/ housing crises in a long time; we know that, too. But the real question is where these houses will go. Sacrifices will need to be made. But pinpointing the exact locations where these sacrifices are to be made, all while the Council holds cards close to chests is proving more difficult than anticipated. Or do some Council’s simply not care to play a role in the crisis?