Council car parks in Sydney to become affordable housing
November 6, 2024 9:14 PM Subscribe
"A real solution to the housing crisis": Council car parks in Sydney to become affordable housing. The Inner West Council in Sydney has a plan to turn four of its council car parks into 200 affordable homes for essential workers. Experts say there is a desperate need for homes to house key workers who can't afford to live where they work but such projects are not a quick fix.
First, this is a good idea. Second, 200 units is a drop in the bucket for any city in a housing crisis. This is a good idea, but not nearly enough. Massive public housing construction is needed, something that no government has been willing to propose. (Additionally, there is the issue of finding land, etc.)
Personally, I think George Carlin's proposal to pave the golf courses for housing was a good idea, but that's not about to happen.
posted by Hactar at 3:50 AM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
Personally, I think George Carlin's proposal to pave the golf courses for housing was a good idea, but that's not about to happen.
posted by Hactar at 3:50 AM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
I can't believe what they are doing to these gorgeous, historical parking lots. Where am I supposed to park for my succulent Chinese meal now?
posted by Captaintripps at 6:31 AM on November 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
posted by Captaintripps at 6:31 AM on November 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
I can't believe what they are doing to these gorgeous, historical parking lots. Where am I supposed to park for my succulent Chinese meal now?
Just in case anyone thinks this is a joke, in multiple US cities, parking lots have been declared historical and development blocked. Not sure if that has ever happened in Australia, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it had.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:19 AM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
Just in case anyone thinks this is a joke, in multiple US cities, parking lots have been declared historical and development blocked. Not sure if that has ever happened in Australia, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it had.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:19 AM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
It is frustrating how hard it is for the simple solution of "build more housing" to actually happen.
posted by finalbroadcast at 9:28 AM on November 7, 2024
posted by finalbroadcast at 9:28 AM on November 7, 2024
Don’t you see? If we have publicly funded housing, that would drive down the rents the landlords collect. We can’t do that, those are our donors. /s
posted by eigenman at 9:47 AM on November 7, 2024
posted by eigenman at 9:47 AM on November 7, 2024
Funny thing, if you build housing near to where people work (and shop and play) then you end up needing fewer car parks after all.
posted by hovey at 2:09 PM on November 7, 2024
posted by hovey at 2:09 PM on November 7, 2024
This is my Council, and it's great.
And this is also my specialty and partly my job. It is also true in Australia that car parks have been given listing and protection in cultural heritage schedules. As to finding land, this is the key problem and the barrier to the massive public housing build that everyone agrees is necessary.
All the areas in Sydney which would be suitable for inner urban building are also, because of the >40 years housing boom, also extraordinarily, globally, valuable. In the immediate post-WWII when nobody wanted to live in the inner city, Councils and the State Government could relatively easily resume quite large blocks because the cost was small (and the slum-cleared former residents, voiceless). What happened from the 1970s onwards was that the same areas became objects of preservation and value, as cultural heritage and as found community, and have now become so valuable that even the Government can't possibly afford to buy any of it. It's all owned by people with great political voice.
The part that none of the established Australian parties, not even the Greens who have public housing as part of their policy, will confront, is that land is zero-sum, and if we want already-owned parts of it to be made public housing, these people have to lose the wealth that's in their housing, or else the public at large has to compensate them based on their windfall, and they have to lose the voice that comes with being inner-urban and connected. All of them are political non-starters.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:28 PM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
And this is also my specialty and partly my job. It is also true in Australia that car parks have been given listing and protection in cultural heritage schedules. As to finding land, this is the key problem and the barrier to the massive public housing build that everyone agrees is necessary.
All the areas in Sydney which would be suitable for inner urban building are also, because of the >40 years housing boom, also extraordinarily, globally, valuable. In the immediate post-WWII when nobody wanted to live in the inner city, Councils and the State Government could relatively easily resume quite large blocks because the cost was small (and the slum-cleared former residents, voiceless). What happened from the 1970s onwards was that the same areas became objects of preservation and value, as cultural heritage and as found community, and have now become so valuable that even the Government can't possibly afford to buy any of it. It's all owned by people with great political voice.
The part that none of the established Australian parties, not even the Greens who have public housing as part of their policy, will confront, is that land is zero-sum, and if we want already-owned parts of it to be made public housing, these people have to lose the wealth that's in their housing, or else the public at large has to compensate them based on their windfall, and they have to lose the voice that comes with being inner-urban and connected. All of them are political non-starters.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:28 PM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
> none of the established Australian parties, not even the Greens who have public housing as part of their policy, will confront, is that land is zero-sum, and if we want already-owned parts of it to be made public housing, these people have to lose the wealth that's in their housing, or else the public at large has to compensate them based on their windfall, and they have to lose the voice that comes with being inner-urban and connected
in the long run, maybe this becomes feasible to tackle politically if the major city land ownership is concentrated in a small minority of the voting public
posted by are-coral-made at 9:56 PM on November 7, 2024
in the long run, maybe this becomes feasible to tackle politically if the major city land ownership is concentrated in a small minority of the voting public
posted by are-coral-made at 9:56 PM on November 7, 2024
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posted by neonamber at 12:05 AM on November 7, 2024 [2 favorites]