Decision details

By Councillor Scott

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note:

(i)         the last time a full registry of city-owned properties was made publicly available was in 2014;

(ii)        City of Sydney buildings fall into the categories of either residential, commercial, industrial or other non-residential;

(iii)      the City maintains a City of Sydney Land Register (Local Government Act 1993 - section 53) which extends to 143 pages – which includes details of: Address, Property Classification and Zoning for each and every property owned;

(iv)      key services and community outreach programs continue to struggle to find spaces to perform their services;

(v)       as at July 2021, there were 1,328 built affordable housing units in the local area, 386 dwellings in the development pipeline and a further 532 that are expected to be built in the future (but not yet in the development pipeline). Noting the dwellings quoted below may be counted under more than one category, there are: 

(a)       994 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that come from the City’s affordable housing contribution schemes; 

(b)       454 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have been assisted by subsidised land sales from the City to community housing providers; 

(c)       439 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have been assisted by the City’s Affordable and Diverse Housing Fund; and 

(d)       a further 359 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have not been assisted by any of the above; and

(vi)      City staff performed an audit and sale of vacant land for community housing providers, the last sale being 2016; and

(B)      the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)         undertake a new audit of vacant City of Sydney properties that may be utilised for the purposes of affordable housing or community use;

(ii)        investigate creating a public register accessible via the City of Sydney website, detailing the City-owned properties including their:

(a)       address;

(b)       property classification;

(c)       zoning; and

(d)       part or whole vacancy status; and

(iii)      provide updates via the CEO Update on the findings of the audit and plans to make City properties available and publicly registered.

Note – at the meeting of Council, the content of the original Notice of Motion was varied by Councillor Scott. Subsequently it was –

Moved by Councillor Scott, seconded by Councillor Kok –

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note:

(i)         the City maintains a City of Sydney Land Register (Local Government Act 1993 - section 53) which extends to 143 pages – which includes details of: Address, Property Classification and Zoning for each and every property owned;

(ii)        key services and community outreach programs continue to struggle to find spaces to perform their services;

(iii)      as at July 2022, there were 1,427 affordable housing units in the local area, 631 dwellings in the development pipeline and a further 701 that are expected to be built in the future (but not yet in the development pipeline). Noting the dwellings quoted below may be counted under more than one category, there are:  

(a)       1,376 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that come from the City’s affordable housing contribution schemes;  

(b)       228 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have been assisted by subsidised land sales from the City to community housing providers;  

(c)       483 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have been assisted by the City’s Affordable and Diverse Housing Fund; and  

(d)       a further 672 dwellings (built, pipeline and expected) that have not been assisted by any of the above; and

(iv)      City staff performed an audit and sale of vacant land for community housing providers, the last sale being 2016; and

(B)      the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)         undertake a new audit of vacant City of Sydney properties that may be utilised for the purposes of affordable housing or community use;

(ii)        investigate creating a public register accessible via the City of Sydney website, detailing the City-owned properties including their:

(a)       address;

(b)       property classification;

(c)       zoning; and

(d)       part or whole vacancy status; and

(iii)      provide updates via the CEO Update on the findings of the audit and plans to make City properties available and publicly registered.

Carried unanimously.

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