NSW Labor must support apartment living if they scrap medium density code: Chris Johnson

EXPERT OBSERVATION 

The policy of NSW Labor to scrap the Medium Density Housing Code must be balanced by support for higher rise apartment living says the Urban Taskforce.

The Labor Party in NSW has announced as policy to scrap the ‘Missing Middle’ code for terrace houses, but new development must go somewhere in Sydney. The best option for NSW Labor is to support higher rise residential around railway stations to accommodate the growing population.

The NSW Government has backed down on the terrace house complying code and allowed 50 councils to delay implementation. It would appear that communities do not want changes to the low rise detached house model that many suburbs have.

The best way to have minimal impact of the suburbs is to concentrate growth in taller residential buildings around railway stations and in town centres. There is a growing interest from younger people to live in apartments close to public transport, urban amenities and jobs.

The Mayor of North Sydney, Jilly Gibson, has recently come out supporting younger people living in apartments and she has been critical of older generations who are negative about this lifestyle. The Urban Taskforce supports Mayor Gibson’s advocacy for urban living for future generations and compliments her on her leadership in this area.

The current NSW Election which is only a month away has generated a lot of anti-apartment rhetoric from politicians and this has been based on scare mongering about excessive development. The younger voters who prefer urban apartment living seem to have been ignored by these politicians.

There is a place for medium density housing across Sydney but this is most likely to be in new greenfield developments. The economics of demolishing existing detached homes for a few terrace houses or town houses is unlikely to be viable in many parts of Sydney.

Chris Johnson is the Urban Taskforce CEO.