A Review of Housing Targets is urgently needed for all NSW Local Council Areas
Councils from across the political divides of Sydney are calling for a review of housing targets to take
into account the long term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. From Ku-ring-gai to Ryde to
Randwick, councils want the NSW Government to ensure targets reflect the projected decrease in
population growth. The NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Rob Stokes, said last month that councils are ultimately responsible for deciding the number of dwellings in its local housing supply target. Yet he has also warned councils that "if councils don't want to lead planning for growth at a local level, it will simply mean the Government will need to take direct action", offering "to do the work for them". Many Councils understandably don't want to be threatened, they simply want the targets reviewed.
City of Ryde Labor Mayor Jerome Laxale told the Sun-Herald that "the COVID-19 pandemic has seen good governments rethink their approach to everything; why should these insane housing targets be any different", also saying that the current target has made Ryde "a developer's paradise". Ku-ring-gai Liberal Mayor Jennifer Anderson said "It is clear from the correspondence that I and my councillor colleagues have been receiving in recent weeks that the overwhelming majority of our community does not want more development beyond that already existing in current zonings." Greens Randwick Deputy Mayor Philipa Veitch said Randwick Council will be bringing a late motion to the Local Government NSW Conference calling for the targets to reflect the projected decrease in population growth.
The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation says the pandemic could cut
underlying housing demand by 232,000 in less than three years, from 2020 to 2023, mainly due to a
downturn in net overseas migration, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
Of course the developer's lobby group, Urban Taskforce, says those who push back against their
never-ending lobbying for more and taller blocks of units, are being NIMBYs. They of course support
the DIMBYs - the Developers In My Backyard. The NSW Government should instead put policies in
place that ensure developers invest in infrastructure and employment projects that will grow the
NSW economy and benefit all of its residents, rather than encouraging developers to build more
and more residential housing, which simply increases developers' profits.
Particularly during this current global crisis, the Government needs to ensure its policies protect people's assets, liveability, access to green space, biodiversity, and amenities for the very families and individuals it says it cares about and represents.
