[Greens-Media] Media Release: Developer driven planning laws can’t fix Sydney’s unaffordable housing market

[David Shoebridge MLC]

Analysis of prices for new development across Sydney by the NSW Greens
shows that only a tiny minority of development on Sydney’s fringes is
affordable for an ordinary Sydney household without failing into housing
stress from the size of their mortgage.  So it is remarkable that the
Parliament will this week be considering a planning bill that contains no
mechanisms for delivering affordable housing.

Planning laws that only promote new housing construction, without requiring
the construction and maintenance of affordable housing stock, will continue
to freeze most Sydneysiders out of the housing market.
See coverage in the Sun Herald
here<http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/greens-analysis-shows-mortgage-stress-a-risk-even-in-cheap-suburbs-20131123-2y2mr.html>
.

*Greens MP and Planning Spokesperson, David Shoebridge said:*

“Whether it is inner city infill development or greenfield subdivisions on
Sydney’s fringes the simple fact is that new housing stock in Sydney is
affordable.

“The big lie behind the government’s planning bill is that just increasing
the new housing stock will address the affordability crisis, but it won’t.

“Even a median income household in Sydney is priced out of the new housing
market and can’t afford a mortgage for almost any new property without
suffering real housing stress.

“The biggest new housing releases close to the CBD at Green Square and
Broadway are so expensive that paying the mortgage for even the ‘cheapest’
2 bedroom unit would see the majority of Sydney households in extreme
housing stress.

“The cheapest house and land package on Sydney’s fringes are selling for
prices that most ordinary people in Sydney will never be able to afford.
This is a case of the market failing our housing needs.

“With the market failing so dramatically to provide housing that ordinary
people can afford, what is required is direct intervention from the
government with new planning laws that promote affordable housing.

“Instead of encouraging affordable housing, the government’s new planning
bill is stripping out the modest existing provisions in the law that allow
councils to demand at least some affordable housing.

“What Sydney needs are laws that allow local councils to require developers
to set aside a fair, but fixed, percentage of new development as affordable
housing.

“We also need the state government to set some realistic affordable housing
targets and then work with local government and the not for profit sector
to deliver on them.” Mr Shoebridge said

On-line research from the NSW Greens shows that:

   - A single person on the adult median wage in Sydney cannot afford to
   purchase even the lowest cost new housing in Sydney.


   - The combined income of a median income household in Sydney is
   insufficient to afford the great majority of new housing without falling
   into extreme housing stress (spending more than 50% of their gross income
   on housing).


   - All bar a tiny minority of the lowest cost new housing units on
   Sydney’s fringes are unaffordable and purchasing them would place the
   median income household in housing stress (spending more than 30% of their
   gross income on housing).

See a more detailed summary of the housing affordability analysis here:
http://davidshoebridge.org.au/2013/11/24/developer-driven-planning-laws-cant-fix-sydneys-unaffordable-housing-market/


*Media Contact: 0408 113 952*


-- 

* David Shoebridge Greens MP in the NSW Legislative Council P: (02) 0408
113 952|Media: 0433 753 376|T: @ShoebridgeMLC
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