Alice Anderson lives on the fourth floor, in a cosy apartment with a sunny north-west facing outlook. We settle in with a cup of tea.
Alice has been living here since March. After finishing her university degree, she wanted to become more financially independent, but couldn’t afford to move out of her parents’ home on the entry-level wage in her chosen field. Thankfully, her application to City West Housing was successful, and she moved in just after the apartments opened, only a few days after starting her new job at a disability employment services provider in Redfern.
“I love living in the inner city, and being able to walk to work and social things,” says Alice. She’s also grateful for the housing security that City West Housing provides. If she were to lose her job and start relying on welfare payments, her rent would be adjusted accordingly while she was looking for work.
There’s much diversity in the six-storey block, which is made up of one, two and three bedroom apartments. While most of the residents are workers, there’s a mix of young and old, families with children, and people from non-English speaking backgrounds. Everyone has access to shared amenities like bike racks, barbecues and a rooftop community garden. When we visit the garden, not much is growing, but we are treated to a fabulous view over Sydney and the airport. Alice likes how the designers have retained the “industrial feel” of the surrounding area.
Things could be about to change, though, as UrbanGrowth has flagged its intentions to sell the surrounding land to developers. Alice is concerned that once the land is sold off, sustainable planning principles will be lost.
I ask her how housing policy could be improved. “Obviously, we need more affordable housing.” Alice is happy here for now, but she wants to have the option of one day owning a home if her life circumstances change. She also believes a different approach to public housing is necessary. In her work she encounters many people who are living in government housing. “The majority of them dislike it, and it creates ghettos,” she says. Alice is unhappy that people with similar issues, like mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse, are forced to live together, which often leads to conflict. “Diversity is the key to a healthy community. All housing throughout Sydney should be as diverse as possible.”
Currently, under the UrbanGrowth Affordable Housing Contributions Plan, for a development to be approved in the area the developer must provide funding for affordable housing equal to the cost of 1.25 percent of the floor space of their development. Alice thinks this percentage should be much higher, around 10 percent, and more if the development is on public land.
And what does she think of Joe Hockey’s now infamous comments on housing affordability that young people should just get a good job? “The mind boggles.”
