Sydneysiders should be concerned by Chris Minns’ free-for-all housing fix

It’s great to see that the new State Government wants to tackle the state’s housing crisis. We only wish they’d spoken to councils and had a plan to fund the infrastructure that it will so desperately need.

It’s a pity that governments typically come up with very blunt tools to maim councils and wrongly blame them for decades of neglect from state and federal agencies on population growth and housing policy.

The Premier’s promise to turbocharge Sydney’s housing growth by giving developers an additional 30 per cent in height and density in exchange for affordable housing isn’t a serious housing policy. It’s a free-for-all. On top of this, the Government is now giving themselves the ability to lodge, assess and approve their own projects.

It’s a trojan horse for more shoe-box size apartments in suburbs that can barely cope, punishing communities who’ve had enough of the density without the promised benefits. ?

Councils are the soft targets of lazy development and developers.?The Government thinks giving salacious incentives to developers and removing local oversight and involvement is the answer to their prayers.

Sydneysiders have every right to be concerned.?Instead of using land already zoned, or even building on government land with appropriate review mechanisms - this proposal ignores years of carefully considered and community consulted strategic planning work and has the potential to trash our suburbs.

This is a one-size-fits-all solution that will not work.?Putting higher densities in places with outstanding amenity and public transport does make sense, but only if it’s supported by proper investment into the roads, parks, community facilities.

What’s more it’s completely unnecessary when councils have land and sites that have been strategically planned. The Hills has enough zoned land for more than 30,000 houses right now.?

The Government needs to understand the fundamentals of the supply pipeline and given it believes Sydney’s future is in high rise apartments, it better start to understand just how hard it is the have one of these developments financed.

Years of an ill-conceived and managed building certification system has come to haunt successive governments. There is a complete lack of confidence in high rise apartments. Who could blame the banks and would-be purchasers for being afraid? Look at what the market has delivered them in Sydney.?Attempts to fix the quality of high-rise buildings are yet to hit the mark.

The developer lobby has done an incredible job at convincing the public and sections of the media that development approvals are the panacea to our housing crisis. Our community’s experience is that is simply untrue.?

Rezoning and upzoning is only a very small factor in the housing crisis conundrum.

Giving developers carte-blanche to add 30 per cent density to areas that are already buckling under pressure is not the answer.

You can rezone all the land you like, but without meaningful infrastructure funding, you’re not going to build communities connected to public transport, quality schools or much-needed green spaces.

The Hills isn’t a NIMBY council. We’re one of the few local government areas meeting their housing targets. These are targets that were signed off by the NSW Government and have been the basis for our engagement and planning with our community for more than a decade.

As a council, we’ve done our part. The state government has asked us to approve new homes, and the planning panels have approved them in the tens of thousands. Yet the state hasn’t done their part.

There is no carrot for Councils that meet their housing targets, and no accountability for Councils that do not.

Our roads are congested. Our schools are overcrowded. Our sporting fields are under pressure. Now the Premier says our local environment plans are the problem. It’s an insult to councils and a slap in the face for residents.

Perhaps we’d have an easier job of convincing the public on the merits of increased development if the NSW Government did what it’s supposed to do. ?

We have precincts where land and housing are flying - yet we’re waiting years just to get traffic lights approved for new land release areas by Transport for NSW. SIC funding for constructing main roads is yet to arrive up to a decade after the first houses were built in new release areas. There is still no public school in Box Hill, and no announcement of a public school at the Showground Precinct either.?

Everyone wants to solve the state’s housing crisis. We’re happy to work constructively with the new Government to do this. However this cannot be a race to the bottom that destroys everything we love about our communities and our city.

Here are some areas the NSW Government should focus on:

1.???Come up with a real, sensible housing and growth plan for Sydney and demand the Federal Government develop a population strategy. ??

2.???Provide better protections for homeowners who buy off the plan.

3.???Start funding state schools, roads and other infrastructure where the growth is supposed to be happening.

4.???Provide incentives such as additional infrastructure to Councils that meet their housing targets, and accountability to Councils for failing to meet their targets.

5.???Start building the thousands of homes approved on state government land without dodging consideration of development standards.