A $450 million investment to build apartments for essential workers headlines the NSW government's budget strategy to tackle the housing crisis head-on.
As announcements flow thick and fast ahead of Treasurer Daniel Mookhey's budget on Tuesday, he and Premier Chris Minns released details of plans to accommodate nurses, paramedics, teachers, allied health care workers, police officers and fire fighters at subsidised rates.
Landcom, the government's residential development arm, will buy up to four sites to build more than 400 new build-to-rent dwellings in the next three years.
Housing affordability and availability is the biggest single pressure facing the people of NSW, with mortgage payments or rent the largest expense for most households, particularly for essential workers, Mr Minns said.
"NSW would grind to a halt without nurses, paramedics, teachers, police officers and firefighters but many can't afford a place to live in Sydney, close to where they work," he said on Sunday.
"This has to change. We're pulling every lever we have to tackle the housing crisis and one of the best ways to make rentals more affordable is to build more homes."
Landcom will begin detailed planning and subject to approvals, work on the first site will begin in early 2026 with key workers able to move in from late 2027.
Eligibility criteria, details on how to apply and the rental subsidy will be available closer to the completion of the first project.
Landcom will select sites with a preference for surplus government land identified as being suitable for housing with the specific locations to be determined.
The government will retain ownership of the housing with rental income available to help fund a potential future expansion of the program.
Alex, a paramedic who lives on the state's Central Coast and works in Sydney, hailed the initiative for the time it would save him.
"I need to leave around about four o'clock in the morning, just to make sure that I'm getting to work at an appropriate time and in the evening, I'm not getting home till eight or nine," he said.
"So to be able to live closer to work is incredible. I'm very much looking forward to this actually becoming reality."
The government will also invest $8.4 million into the work of the Rental Commissioner to deliver investigators, inspectors and support teams to engage with renters, target dodgy agents and act on serious breaches of rental laws.
The Taskforce in Fair Trading, led by the commissioner, will be given a mandate to crack down on poor quality rentals and bad behaviour from agents and owners, in the nation's biggest rental market.
Another major budget commitment is $83.1 million over the next four years to retain expert TAFE teachers.
With an estimated 48 per cent of that workforce not permanently employed, the funds will be spent offering permanent jobs.
The job security of firefighters will be strengthened too, with an extra $189.5 million over four years to guarantee the positions of the 286 existing firefighters whose roles are without ongoing funding.
There is also $15.4 million to buy land for a 24-hour fire station at Badgerys Creek and, elsewhere, $15 million for improving rates of vaccination for flu, shingles and pneumococcus for culturally and linguistically diverse communities and people with chronic illnesses.
The investment will fund more NSW Health staff to administer vaccines, and training for existing clinical services staff.
Funding of $2.5 million will help ensure compliance with the July 1 ban on the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone. There will also be stronger regulation of all other materials containing crystalline silica.
