Local Marrickville resident Keren Lavelle argues housing housing won’t be fairer under the Inner West Council’s Our Fairer Future plan. Federal tax policy keeps housing expensive. YIMBYs cherish the idea that more supply means more affordability, but with rampantly rising construction costs, this will not occur.
I have lived in Sydney’s inner west for decades. I have seen substantial demographic and economic change, including the steep rise in the cost of housing, and I know how this stunts peoples’ lives. Like PM Anthony Albanese, my local member of parliament, I too, grew up in public housing. You might think I would approve of “Our Fairer Future” – Inner West Council’s draft local environment plan, in which the IWC attempts to outbid the state government’s own transport oriented development LEP, striving for substantially more dwellings than the TOD proposed.
But I’m dead opposed, and cynical as well, beginning with the badly publicised consultation process. The newsletter promoting it was distributed after the deadline for feedback. No one whose property is slated for zoning “uplift” received a letter telling them this.
No notifications were in community languages. The information comprised 1127 pages of technical material in 12 attachments, including maps that are difficult to view and interpret.
The distribution of the density within the local government area is unfair. The suburbs of Marrickville and Ashfield and to a lesser extent, Dulwich Hill, are unfairly slated for the greatest number of dwellings – some 22,000 out of a projected total of 30,000+. These are also the areas with the greatest number of inhabitants born overseas and are already densely developed.
The whole LGA has the second-lowest amount of green space in the metropolitan area. (There’s confusing mention of a second plan, but residents can only comment on what has been provided, and the numbers speak for themselves.)
The amenity and charm these areas have developed, with vibrant food and entertainment cultures, are at risk. The developers may be selling on the appeal of Marrickville etcetera as “coolest suburbs”, but the towers as they rise will destroy all that – replacing the butchers, specialist grocers, the restaurants which rely on these, plus the music bars, with fast-food outlets and chain stores.
Infuriatingly, the housing won’t be “fairer”. Federal tax policy keeps housing expensive. YIMBYs (yes in my backyard) cherish the idea that more supply means “more affordable to buy”, but with rampantly rising construction costs – now 30.8 per cent higher than before the pandemic – this will not occur.
A tiny proportion of the dwellings proposed in Our Fairer Future will be “affordable”, meaning rental accommodation at a 20-25 per cent discount to private market rents in the area, (or, less likely, a proportion of the tenant’s gross income).
The IWC plan has an affordable housing contribution from the developers of 2 per cent for any residential flat building or other development with a gross floor area greater than 2000 square metre, increasing to 3 per cent after two years and 5 per cent after five years.
Why not increase the contributions rate to 5 per cent straight away, increasing to at least 30 per cent for the additional floor space the community is providing by allowing this plan to go ahead?
In London and other unaffordable cities, the contribution rate for affordable apartments is more in the order of 30-50 per cent from the start.
Yet median rents in the targeted suburbs are around $695-$750. Even at a 20-25 per cent discount, a one-income household of an essential worker and family may easily meet the definition of suffering housing stress (that is, spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing). A pensioner or other low income family won’t have a look-in.
A pious principle in the plan is to source council and state government land for public housing, but this is ignored in specific cases: for example, a council carpark in Dulwich Hill is to be sold to developers.
The plan’s wishlist includes community housing on church lands. Unfortunately, 90 per cent of new dwellings in Sydney are built by for-profit developers, with only 4 per cent coming from community housing initiatives.
The state government rakes in billions from stamp duty on property sales (the NSW budget forecasts stamp duty income of $12.3-$15.26 billion by 2027-28).
Unless the NSW government builds more public housing in the Inner West LGA, there will be no truly affordable housing here for people on very low incomes – such as those on disability, sole parent, or age pensions. A fairer future? No.
If the housing crisis is to be tackled wholeheartedly, waving a magic ‘ private development’ wand will not do it, but restoring the government’s traditional role in providing low-cost housing to those who need it will.
Instead of acting as a branch of the state government, the ALP-dominated IWC has a role to lobby the government hard in this regard.
A group of concerned Inner Westies is holding a public meeting with a panel of speakers at 2-4pm 27 July at Gumbramorra Hall, 142 Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville to discuss the “Our Fairer Future” plan.
Keren Lavelle is a local Marrickville and long term Inner West resident
I just want them to get on with it already so we can get more apartments built. Upzoning will make it easier for the government and CHPs to build social housing too, and we can fight for more uplift in the protected areas later. How much native forest has been cleared for suburban sprawl while the state gov’t and councils have been dithering and trying to placate local nimbys?
The inner west is vibrant precisely because of its density, which kept prices low, and as the population grows we have to keep up with it. Newtown got gentrified because lots of people want to live there, and without enough housing to meet demand, the rich were able to outbid everyone else. There are very few midrise apartment buildings in Newtown, it’s all lovely terraces occupied by multimillionaires. The same thing is happening to the rest of the area. If my Newtown rent keeps increasing, I’m going to move to Marrickville and I’ll be competing with you for limited rentals. We’d all be better off if I could move into a new apartment near the train station instead.
The culture will survive, as long as the people who create it can still afford to live there. More housing is how we do it, and we need it asap.
Except as Keren and so many other people have pointed out it’s the cost of construction that keeps apartment prices high. There are many apartments approved but not getting built because of this fact. Only upmarket expensive ones can find a market wealthy enough to buy. We need low cost social housing through an agency that can break through the current model of construction – someone that can plan at scale, commit long term to pre-fab housing, train up enough tradies so builders can no longer charge through the nose, create a market for low carbon materials and design replicable housing that can be rolled out at lower cost than bespoke models. Wait, is that a public housing commission? My word I think it is!
I have two major concerns which I feel the NSW State Government and Federal Government have not addressed:
Firstly, the lack of detailed planning which makes it difficult for local councils to provide detailed planning to our communities. For example, four pages on the South Crystal Street development is just a very rough sketch and this affects people’s lives. Our community deserves better than four pages.
Part of the character of the Inner West is its terraces and architecture and this is why people are attracted to the Stanmore/Petersham area. People have worked hard, restoring family homes, over many years to rejuvenate these suburbs similar to The Rocks area, Paddington Annandale etc. When a Developer buys a property next door and builds a multi-storey building, the fabric of the area starts to unwind and these people are forced to sell and these communities are lost forever. For these homeowners, it is extremely unfair because it’s their life’s work of perhaps 20 to 30 years and the suburb loses its uniqueness and becomes a Wolli Creek development. I don’t believe residents want these areas to become Wolli Creek high rise developments that have no architectural value. Whilst time cannot stand still, we need to blend the old with the new and always promote good architecture.The IWC can do this but these Crystal Street high rise developments that have been built and passed by Council, to date, are shocking and ugly.
Secondly, the NSW State and Federal Government haven’t taken into account the enormous funding required for the services and infrastructure required to support this significant increase in population to the area. This includes hospital capacity, school capacity, childcare capacity, green space etc, etc. We all know the NSW State Government and Federal Government’s track record when it comes to planning these things. It’s woeful!!!
At the moment, we have RPA Hospital running at over capacity because of consecutive NSW State and Federal Government lack of planning. That is just one example. Any increase in population will put a further strain on the system and staff and we end up with a sub-standard, overburdened health system.
The problem is that Local Councils and our communities will be left to deal with this mess without proper funding.
The Inner West Councillors and Mayor need to push back on this and force NSW State and Federal Governments to ensure significant funding is allocated for all these services and infrastructure required to support an increase in population to the area.
The Mayor and the Councillors have not done this and this is why I can’t support this proposal because it’s not fair to anyone when services and infrastructure are not delivered. It makes resident’s lives poorer.
I also believe we need an independent impact assessment done on how this proposal will affect our communities so that we can advocate for the millions required to support this extra population. We already have traffic and transport problems now. How will this be addressed? These things should be included in this impact assessment.
The NSW State and Federal Government want to bulldoze this through but it’s the Local Councils and local communities that have to deal with their mess because of their lack of planning and that’s not fair.
I also agree there has been a lack of transparency on this so called Fairer Future Plan.
Couldn’t agree more – I have made a submission to the consultation covering very similar ground. As a not-so-young person I am particularly incensed that the Council’s plans do nothing to address the intergenerational theft from young people. The proposal’s approach to “affordable housing” is a con on being perpetrated on young people.
The IWC plan is all about noisy NIMBY groups near the new metro rail stations. That purpose is hidden in its complexity; there are hectares of prime urban land proposed to be downzoned (from current TOD and LMR zoning) near Dulwich Hill Metro station to R2 Low Density Residential. Because Metro Sydney needs a housing museum of late Victorian and early Federation single storey bungalows within 400m of metro rail? It’s not a TOD plan but a COD – Compliant Orientated Development!
Well said Keren, more affordable social housing is absolutely necessary, I will attend the meeting at Addi Road
This is excellent thanks Keren. I’ll do my best to attend the meeting.