A NSW Productivity Commission report has warned that Sydney is at risk of becoming a city with no grandchildren if the housing crisis is not adequately addressed.
The Commission has fired the blunt warning in a new housing paper, which reveals Sydney is losing some 7,000 people aged 30 to 40 a year to other parts of Australia.
The paper found that between 2016 and 2021, Sydney lost twice as many people aged 30 to 40 as it gained – with 35,000 coming to Sydney, while 70,000 left.
It also found that while Sydney has among the highest average wages in Australia, over recent years it has consistently lost population to other states and regional NSW.
Approximately two out of every three departures are from the working-age population – that is, those aged between 25 and 64, it’s not only ‘grey nomads’ who leave Sydney.
Most concerningly, Productivity Commissioner, Peter Achterstraat found that, “If we don’t act, we could become a city with no grandchildren.”
These are thousands of people who’d be starting and raising families, filling good jobs, starting businesses, employing people and contributing to communities. But the housing crisis is forcing them out, he said.
The new paper ‘What we gain by building more homes in the right places’, supports the NSW Government’s rezoning and density plans, finding building up in inner-Sydney suburbs would boost productivity, boots wages, cut carbon emissions and preserve green space.
Not only are thousands of people being pushed out or priced out of Sydney, but new homelessness data released this week, also showed the impact on many who don’t have the opportunity or mean to relocate.
Homelessness NSW has reported a sobering spike in the number of people sleeping rough.
The increases in numbers are across Sydney including the Inner West, Ku-ring-gai, Mosman and Canterbury-Bankstown Local Government Areas, where hundreds of new people have found themselves homeless.
“This report, together with the new data released today from Homelessness NSW highlights the very real housing crisis that is playing out in our suburbs and cities across the state,” said Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson.
“There are more than 55,000 people on the social housing waitlist, anxiously waiting for a safe place to call home.
“It’s a shameful backlog left by a decade of inaction by the former government that has left too many in NSW vulnerable.
“Affordability and availability are at their lowest levels in decades. The NSW Government remains committed to delivering more homes and strengthening support services as a priority.”