A faith-based advocacy group is campaigning the New South Wales government to help convert underused church sites into housing developments. The group says it could allow for the construction of 20-thousand homes and fill the void left by the state government's failed bid to acquire and develop Rosehill racecourse.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A house of God next to much-needed homes.
00:05Those at St John's Church in Darlinghurst not only love thy neighbours,
00:09they even put a roof over their heads.
00:12In this case it's helping elderly Australians who are in need of housing.
00:17The church turned its spare land into affordable housing
00:20and other faith-based organisations want to do the same.
00:24But there's something getting in the way.
00:26The zoning only permits uses of the land for public worship.
00:31So what the groups are calling for is this land use to be expanded
00:34to allow for affordable housing to be constructed.
00:37They say if all land of this nature is rezoned
00:40it will help them get shovel-ready more quickly.
00:43And that will make it easier to get the state and federal funding
00:46they need to push ahead.
00:48The need for the funding is to bridge the gap between the rental amounts
00:52that are paid by those with lower incomes
00:54and the actual cost of putting the projects into the market.
00:57Analysis done for Faith Housing Australia
00:59found nearly 750 faith-owned sites in New South Wales
01:03within 800 metres of a train station
01:06could be turned into around 20,000 affordable homes.
01:10The state government says it will consider the plan.
01:13Well I think it's a really good idea.
01:15I think we're always open to different ideas.
01:17The government has made it very clear that our focus
01:19has been on the development of housing.
01:22The opposition has accused Labor of dragging its feet.
01:25The government should have received it and said hallelujah
01:28but instead what the government have done have just sat on their hands.
01:31The state government's plan to ease the housing crisis
01:34was recently dealt a massive blow.
01:36It had wanted to purchase the Rose Hill Racecourse for $5 billion
01:40and transform it into 25,000 homes.
01:43But its proposal was rejected.
01:46In Sydney's west, two Anglican sites are already being redeveloped
01:49with help from the federal government.
01:51And nine others have been offered for housing,
01:53including five in Western Sydney,
01:55one in the northern suburbs, one in the south
01:58and two in Wollongong.
02:00One thing everyone agrees, there's no time to waste.
02:03We're only approving 46,000 homes in the last 12 months for development
02:08and yet the housing target for New South Wales is 76,000 a year.
02:13And faith groups believe a holy alliance is the answer.