A long-awaited audit of surplus government land has identified 44 sites in Sydney and the regions suitable for redevelopment into housing. The government is pledging 30,000 new homes - a mix of public,subsidised and private dwellings - at those locations and other,previously rezoned sites.
It refused to identify the 44 new sites on Tuesday,citing market sensitivity,but said they would be released shortly. While small sites may consist solely of social housing,most will be mixed-tenure. The government made clear it would not create standalone public housing estates or towers.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said it was “the biggest single investment in social housing any NSW government has made in the federation’s history”,and would undo the previous government’s approach of selling public housing stock to fund repairs.
However,the state faces a significant challenge in finding construction workers. It argues that as major public works projects such as Metro City and Southwest wind down,labourers can go into home building instead.
“At this point of the economic cycle,by making sure we’re very disciplined about the public infrastructure we’re building,we’re making sure that some of that labour can switch over to residential construction,” Mookhey said.
But veteran residential builder Gary Bradshaw said that was easier said than done. “It’s horses for courses,” the 60-year-old foreman said from a Mosman construction site on Tuesday. “I couldn’t walk straight onto a commercial[building] site and know all the ins and outs. It’s going to be a challenge.”