Squeeze for homes worse than targets
Sunanda Creagh, Urban Affairs Reporter
October 2, 2008
A SOARING immigration rate means Sydney's suburbs will need to squeeze in a third more apartment blocks and houses than councils and government planners first thought - and that's on top of already ambitious development targets laid out in the State Government's 25-year city growth plan, says one of the state's top planning experts.
The Metropolitan Strategy - Sydney's blueprint for development - estimated in 2005 that the city would need an extra 640,000 dwellings by 2031 but a co-author of the report now says up to 876,640 will be needed.
"The numbers are somewhat alarming. It means we really do need to refocus our attention on how we will accommodate Sydney's growing population and we are not producing anything like the targets needed to meet this demand," Patrick Fensham, a director at SGS Economics and Planning, said yesterday.
"That will mean pressure on housing affordability, people staying at home longer, cramming in more bodies than people like to in the house. We need a policy response," said Mr Fensham.
SGS used the latest population projection figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to calculate that up to 575,295 new units or houses will need to be built in existing suburbs over the next 23 years, while up to 301,345 new dwellings will be needed on greenfield sites in Sydney's outer areas. That is about a third more homes than the Metropolitan Strategy assumed would be required, said Mr Fensham.
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