RCNSW CALLS FOR FAIR SHARE OF HOUSING FUNDING FOR THE REGIONS
Regional Cities New South Wales (RCNSW) is calling for a fairer share of housing and infrastructure investment in the upcoming NSW State Budget following the release of new data in the Regional Australia Institute’s Regional Movers Index that shows regional cities are growing.
the report found that two thirds of Australia’s total regional migration came from Sydney during the first three months of this year, in addition to showing a continuing trend of significantly more people moving from the city to the regions than in the other direction.
“Our cities are clearly the place that people want to be so we want to make sure that our cities have the right level of housing to meet this demand,” RCNSW Chair and Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council, Councillor Mathew Dickerson said.
“We know that housing pressures are a national issue but with the majority of regional migration occurring in NSW, our regional cities deserve to have their fair share of funding to make sure our communities are able to deal with this growing challenge.”
RCNSW acknowledged recent announcement from the NSW Government that it will invest $137.19 million, with co-contributions of $64.7 million from Councils, to fast-track infrastructure in Wagga Wagga, Tweed Shire, Bathurst, Port-Macquarie-Hastings and Shoalhaven to support the delivery of 24,898 new homes through the Accelerated Infrastructure Fund, Cr Dickerson said urgent investment is required across all regional cities.
With the State budget to be announced on Tuesday 18 June, Cr Dickerson said the time for investment in regional housing is now.
“Regional Housing is an issue which simply cannot wait, it needs to be addressed now starting with a significant funding injection in this budget,” Cr Dickerson said.
“In addition, RCNSW is committed to working in partnership with the State Government to identify and activate unused land in our cities while also supporting development which meets community need such as the development of specific rental accommodation.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the regional NSW population grew by 253,400 between 2011 and 2023 - the equivalent to creating a new regional city the size of Bathurst every two years.
High demand has caused house prices to soar and impacted affordability while NSW vacancy rates released by the Real Estate Institute of NSW show that rental availability is scarce – with less than 1.5 per cent vacancy rates in the majority of NSW regions - and rental costs are steadily rising.
The RCNSW pre-budget submission to the State Government calls for urgent action and investment to increase the supply of social and affordable regional housing.
There are also a series of key recommendations that address skilled labour shortages in regional cities where jobs in health care, primary production and service based industries require more staff.
The RCNSW submission also makes a series of key recommendations for the Government’s consideration in the 2024-2025 budget in relation to other major issues impacting regional capitals including -
Population forecasting;
Regional Migration;
Regional Workplace Hubs;
Regional Port and Road Freight Connectivity;
Local and Regional Roads;
Liveability, Civic and Community Infrastructure;
Regional Digital Connectivity; and
Water Security.
The submission is available from the RCNSW website at https://www.regionalcitiesnsw.org.au/