The Hunter's population is growing, with more people moving into the region and fewer moving out since the pandemic.
This is placing higher demands on housing. Indicators of housing stress continue to grow. House and rental asking prices are up. Rental vacancy rates are decreasing, a trend that precedes COVID.
Just 5.5 per cent of all rental properties advertised across the region is affordable for households on income support. A significant shortfall in the supply of new housing has been forecast over the next five years.
If we continue on this path, we won't need a crystal ball to predict our future. We can look to Sydney to see the impact of runaway house prices on the economy, communities and the NSW budget.
The Committee for the Hunter has made a submission to the NSW Regional Housing Taskforce with recommendations for reform.
A backlog of residential developments has been identified in the Hunter, stuck in the planning pipeline due to a lack of timely supporting infrastructure.
More investment in enabling infrastructure - including transport, utilities, public space and community infrastructure - can unlock and accelerate housing supply.
A backlog of residential developments has been identified in the Hunter, stuck in the planning pipeline due to a lack of timely supporting infrastructure.
However, there has been an under investment in enabling infrastructure including transport in the Hunter.
The region received just over 3 per cent of the $1 billion NSW Housing Acceleration Fund since 2012. We are recommending the fund be topped up, including a proportional allocation for the Hunter.
We can continue to argue about our fair share. But ultimately the Hunter has a higher capacity for growth than indicated by NSW projections, and can do more heavy lifting in the state solution to housing.
This is an opportunity to rethink catalytic projects such as high speed rail. Firstly, as an investment to improve services to the standard expected for a large, growing population centre and modern economy.
Rail also has a role in driving a more even and productive pattern of settlement across the state, helping take the pressure off Sydney and defer some of the higher costs of infrastructure the city needs to support growth. A commitment to the Sydney to Newcastle high speed rail corridor should form part of our armoury on housing.
The bluntest way to make housing more affordable is to increase the availability of social housing. Yet demand for social and crisis housing is growing faster than supply.
The supply of social housing at the scale and speed required is not readily being addressed by private and community sectors. We argue that the provision of social housing is a direct responsibility of governments, and call for more focus and funding to improve and increase stock in the Hunter.
Housing issues in the Hunter have fundamentally emerged through a lack of strategic planning, that land use planning and infrastructure are not sufficiently coordinated, and that infrastructure and service department budgets are not readily tied to the whole-of-government priorities - including housing targets - identified in the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan and Hunter Regional Plan.
Governance in the Hunter remains highly fragmented. With concurrent reviews of the Hunter Regional Plan and the Hunter Regional Transport Plan, we think it's time to consider governance models for a more strategic and connected approach to the Hunter's development.
A place-based approach can also support more integrated responses and complement whole-of-economy measures.
The Hunter was a test site for the NDIS, informing the national rollout. The Hunter offers a representative sample of populations, settlements, geography and scale to support the design of new approaches to housing that cut across disciplines, sectors and levels of government.
The committee invites the NSW Government to utilise the Hunter region as an applied "sandpit" for testing innovative housing solutions with potential to be scaled across NSW.
Housing problems are a symptom of the Hunter's growth and success. Without intervention, housing issues will increase inequality, stunt the region's growth and competitiveness, and actively work against the state's productivity agenda.
The Hunter's growth has not yet reached the dizzying levels of western Sydney. There is still capacity in our infrastructure and services for a higher level of growth. This is exactly the time to arrest housing stress before issues turn into a full-blown crisis.
Especially when we know how this story ends.
