Bankstown. More tha half affordable homes

Potential home buyers looking to avoid Sydney’s crippling property prices should start looking in the Bankstown local government Area, according to research by PRDnationwide, which found, based on homes worth $500,000 or less, that more than half of Sydney’s top 10 most affordable suburbs within a 20-kilometre radius of the Sydney CBD were situated in the Bankstown LGA, with Yagoona, Auburn and Chester Hill the cheapest. “The top 10 suburbs which recorded the highest house activity below $500,000 are supported by road transport links to the growing business centres of Parramatta and Bankstown,” said Oded Reuveni Etzioni, PRDnationwide NSW Research Analyst

Region. NSW housing budget blown out

The NSW housing budget is blowing out as motels in Western Sydney increasingly become half-way houses for homeless families, according to ABC News. The NSW Government said its temporary accommodation budget had blown out by more than $9 million this year as it pays for an extra 643 people each month to stay in motels or caravan parks. The latest census data shows a 17 per cent increase in the number of homeless families between 2001 and 2006, but Western Sydney charities said the global financial crisis had already put those figures out of date. Mission Australia had recently built 16 townhouses in Sydney's west specifically designed to accommodate families.

Parramatta. Affordable housing project

The Parramatta-based UWS Urban Research Centre (URC) and Parramatta City Council are partners identifying a model for affordable and sustainable community-0riented housing in the local government area. “Lord Mayor, Paul Barber, has acknowledged housing stress in the area and noted that this knock-on effect of ‘community stress’ where householders faced with financial stress participate less in their communities,” said URC director, Professor Phillip O’Neill. A parcel of land in Granville is being used as a case study.

Push for affordable housing

Parramatta City Council officers believes the best opportunity to progress the development of affordable housing in the city is through a partnership with a community housing provider, which is eligible to apply for funding through the NSW Government’s Affordable Housing Innovations Fund. Councillors will consider the recommendation. The UWS Urban Research Centre is currently undertaking research to develop a model for the sustainable delivery of affordable housing using Parramatta as a study. Results are expected by August 2008.