Marrickville Council has requested that the NSW Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry on Social, Public and Affordable Housing include a proportion of affordable housing in new residential developments.
Council added that it is imperative that more public housing is divested to community housing providers.
“Marrickville faces particular challenges in making sure our residents have access to appropriate and affordable housing,” said Marrickville Mayor Councillor Jo Haylen.
“The process of gentrification is diminishing our traditional diversity, and putting significant pressure on the disadvantaged.
“In 2012, a one bedroom dwelling in Marrickville rented for $350 a week.
“The average rent for a three bedroom dwelling was $680 a week.
“Now think about the fact that at the time, a graduate teacher earned about $847 a week (before allowances), a child care worker about $720 a week (before allowances), and the gross weekly income of a worker in accommodation and food services was $992.80.
“Do we really want to live in a community where a teacher, child carer, or hospitality worker can’t afford to live?”
A report by the NSW Auditor General this year stated that 120,000 people in NSW are currently waiting for public housing, while a report by the McKell Institute said it now takes nine times the median salary to buy a house in Sydney, when twenty years ago a home could be bought in Sydney for only three times the median salary.
“This lack of affordable housing in Marrickville is causing families, networks and communities to split, with younger and older people being forced to move away from their community and family networks,” Mayor Haylen said.
“A diverse society is a healthy society. I would like to see a bipartisan commitment at State level, as well as changes to planning and funding mechanisms so together we can achieve affordable housing in the inner suburbs of Sydney.”
