A mixed development at Washington Park in Riverwood is setting the scene for social housing in NSW.
The development caught the eye of Oatley MP Mark Coure and the Minister for Social Housing, Brad Hazzard, who recently toured the site.
Mr Coure said the blend of private and social housing was beneficial to the entire community.
‘‘Our most vulnerable members of our community need to be assisted with housing and associated support services, but it’s important for them to be included in the wider community,’’ he said.
‘‘This development at Riverwood, managed by St George Community Housing, is a perfect example of how the government works with the non-government and private sectors to deliver better solutions.’’
He said the final mix would be 500 private and 150 social housing — a 70/30 private to social housing mix.
About 123 social housing dwellings had been delivered and the remaining 27 were scheduled to be completed this year.
They would be built above the new community library.
Mr Coure said the NSW government recently launched a new social housing strategy — Future Directions for Social Housing in NSW – which focused on three areas of reform: increasing the amount of social housing; improving peoples’ opportunities to secure employment and find accommodation in the private rental sector; and delivering better social housing services that work with the whole of government.
Mr Hazzard said this strategy was backed by the whole of government including health, education, justice, planning and environment, and would help change the way social housing worked in NSW.
“In addition we have announced the $1 billion Social and Affordable Housing Fund to deliver thousands of new social and affordable homes and Communities Plus which will deliver new social housing programs,’’ Mr Hazzard said.
‘‘The strategy of building new social housing and the redevelopment of old public housing will be based on more public and private sector partnerships that will provide better social housing.
‘‘It means not only more houses, but new communities where social disadvantage is less concentrated and more connected to the rest of NSW.’’