NSW Premier Chris Minns announces Bega housing development on former TAFE site, 29-8-23, Bega District News

Bega District News

NSW Premier Chris Minns and Housing Minister Rose Jackson announce plans for a 97-dwelling residential housing development on unused government land in Bega, formerly the TAFE site

Transcript

00:00 Thanks, Rose. Thanks, Michael. It's great to be here with Kristy McBain too, to talk

00:04 really about regional housing, particularly social housing for fast growing parts of the

00:09 New South Wales South Coast. Now, we know that in Vega, there's been a 56% increase

00:16 in the social housing priority wait list in the last 12 months, a 56% increase. As Rose

00:23 said, it's one of the lowest vacancy rates for rental properties in the entire state.

00:28 And the implications for somebody that can't get a rental or social housing tenancy in

00:33 a regional community are severe. They're severe in the city, but they're particularly severe

00:38 for regional New South Wales, because if you've got kids in school and you've not got an opportunity

00:43 to have a rental property, more often than not, it means that you have to uproot yourself

00:47 from your local community and move one town over. And that may mean taking your kids out

00:52 of the school, disassociating yourself from the local community. So the implications for

00:57 regional communities for the massive increase in rents and housing costs are huge. It's

01:02 one of the reasons why after we were elected, we made a decision to look at surplus government

01:08 land right across the state to see if we can convert it, excuse me, to see if we can convert

01:13 it into housing for the people of New South Wales. It would be particularly distressing

01:17 for the community of Vega to see a vacant property, as Rose said, remaining vacant for

01:23 years and no plan to have housing on that site. This is what we're doing right here.

01:28 97 apartments and houses will be located on this site, including 20 for social housing

01:34 for the local community. It's a project that will be led by the New South Wales government.

01:38 It doesn't begin and end here. We're looking at converting government land with a minimum

01:43 30% social, affordable or inclusive housing across the state. We think this is an important

01:50 measure to ensure that we're in a position to let young people in particular put down

01:56 roots, join communities and start businesses right here in New South Wales. The alternative,

02:01 if we don't do these things, is to see hundreds of thousands of particularly young people

02:06 up and leave. And that's the productive base of the state. It's particularly important

02:10 to note that 20 of the units that will be provided will be for elderly people that live

02:15 in the local community. And when you've got an average age in Vega of, I think over 50,

02:20 is that right, Tom? Doc's still below that number, so good news. But when you've got

02:27 a higher than the state average age, you've got to provide that when you're building social

02:33 housing for the future.

02:34 Timeline wise then, when can we see this up and ready?

02:40 I mean, assuming we have a positive relationship with the council in terms of our planning

02:45 approvals, we do want to get construction started next year. We know that the crisis

02:50 is urgent and the solutions need to be upon us. We're not wasting any time. So we do want

02:54 to see construction getting going next year. I mean, look, as the Premier said, there's

02:58 a range of things that we're doing. We know that there are skill shortages. We know that

03:02 getting builders and tradespeople is tough. We've got a big piece of work investing in

03:06 our apprenticeships and our scholarships to get our tradies through TAFE. These are the

03:11 kind of projects that we want to bring online so that as those people are taking up those

03:15 opportunities and learning those skills, they've got projects here that they can be delivering

03:18 for the community.

03:19 So this won't have any impact on anyone attending the TAFE facility in town?

03:24 Not at all. No, the new TAFE open and operating and has been going great for a while, I think.

03:29 So in fact, if there's an opportunity for some of the people at that new modern facility

03:33 to put some of their skills to the test and do some on the ground practical work building

03:38 housing here, what a fantastic opportunity.

03:40 So look, it's already zoned residential. So we're confident we've cleared that hurdle

03:45 at the outset. In relation to the specific development application, what the constitution

03:51 of where the housing will go on the site, that's got to be determined. And obviously

03:55 we have to go through the local council in relation to that. But we're not expecting

03:59 opposition to it. I mean, if you speak to any local council, they'll all say the same

04:04 thing. We need housing for elderly people, social housing, young people in particular.

04:08 This is what this site is doing. To put this in perspective, 10 years ago, young people

04:12 in particular would say, will I ever be able to afford to buy a place in New South Wales?

04:17 Now they're saying, will I even be able to afford to rent a place? And that's an intolerable

04:21 situation for a community like ours.

04:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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