Anglican’s All-Affordable TOD Tower at Bankstown Approved

Sydney Anglican Property’s state-significant shoptop redevelopment of St Paul’s church at Bankstown has been approved after amendments in response to submissions—including removing the shop. The $97-million Transport Oriented Development project may now proceed after a reduction from 23 to 20 storeys. A yield of 186 all-affordable apartments has been retained, with a reconfiguration of typologies. The proposed place of worship and childcare centre may proceed despite the removal of retail and commercial space. The originally proposed 41 studios and 144 one-bedroom apartments will now be replaced by 93 studios and 92 one-bedroom units. A single four-bedroom home, assigned to the church, has been retained in the approved plans. The 2189sq m site at 459-461 Chapel Road, about 16km west of the Sydney CBD and 11km south of the Parramatta CBD, is 650m from the Bankstown train station. Gross floor area in the approved project has been reduced from 13,310sq m to 11,944sq m, including an 841sq m reduction in residential GFA. Sydney Anglican Property chief executive Ross Jones said that “a huge amount of work from a wide range of stakeholders has gone into bringing the project to this point. We look forward to now being able to deliver for the people of Bankstown”. ▲ The all-affordable housing yield will remain 186 apartments, but typologies have been altered in the approved version. “With an approval now in place, we will work through the process of reviewing the consent conditions and their impact on the feasibility of the project and continue to work with the relevant authorities to enable construction to get underway”, Jones said. Housing crisis now “a catastrophe” The nominated manager of the affordable housing project, Anglicare, began an exhibition for a $140-million all-affordable tower in Merrylands in April. The Anglican pivot from aged care to affordable housing, with Anglicare pursuing a 4,000-bed portfolio, comes as the latest Anglicare research shows the housing crisis “is now a catastrophe”. Anglicare Sydney group executive of housing Rob Stokes told The Urban Developer that the Rental Affordability Snapshot shows a single-income, minimum wage earner can only afford seven properties across the entire Greater Sydney region. “And in the case of a family, so if you’re a single income with a couple of kids on a full time minimum wage, there’s just three properties that you can afford,” Stokes said. “We’re effectively closing in on a collapse, an entire collapse, of a housing system. It’s that dramatic. ▲ Stokes said that affordability was “plumbing new depths” in Sydney. “We’ve got medical interns in affordable housing. So things are out of whack when people, who would generally be considered higher income earners, qualifying for affordable housing.” Stokes said that rezoning efforts are delivering developments in wealthier parts of the city, “which is great if you’re a wealthy retiree, but it’s of no use to you if you’re living in your car in Western Sydney”. A “substantial injection” into social and affordable housing is needed, according to Stokes, which could be funded by hypothecating revenue from any reform of property sector taxes in the coming Federal budget. “There’s pretty much nothing left in the basket of policy options in terms of planning reform, we’ve now got to look at tax settings. Stokes said that Anglicare is keen to continue contributing, including looking for partners and sites. “We’re keen to expand dramatically, and we’ve got a series of plans where we’re converting a range of our our older residential assets into social community housing, and we’re also aggressively looking at acquisitions and projects.”

Anglican’s All-Affordable TOD Tower at Bankstown Approved

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