Potential housing developments on church sites, a saving grace for Sydney’s housing crisis

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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.

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