00:00The high cost of Sydney housing is pushing essential workers out of the inner city.
00:08It means nurses, teachers and police officers often have to travel long distances to get
00:13to work.
00:15The latest figures show that for a registered nurse, the only affordable rentals are in
00:20the outer suburbs.
00:22And there are no parts of Greater Sydney where they would be able to buy a flat.
00:27The Inner West Council wants to make life easier for essential workers.
00:32It wants to turn four council car parks into 200 affordable units.
00:37We think that by using our public assets, in this case car parks and depots, to be repurposed
00:43as a different public asset, housing, to meet the crisis, we can make a real difference.
00:48The community response has been mixed.
00:51Affordable housing, all the way, absolutely, it just makes sense, right?
00:57Car parks, we've already got enough car parks.
00:59Look, I think we need car parks in this area as well, but we also need more affordable
01:03housing.
01:04Planning experts say it's important that essential workers live close to work.
01:09Lack of affordable housing near to where essential workers have to work impacts recruitment and
01:14retention and that can have a very significant impact on how our critical essential services
01:21function.
01:22Using public land removes one of the main barriers to building affordable housing, that's
01:26the cost of the land.
01:28But even then, there's no quick fix.
01:31This car park in Leichhardt was earmarked for affordable housing back in 2015.
01:36Nearly a decade later, not a single brick has been laid.
01:41The council says it does not have the money to build the development, but that new funds
01:46flowing from federal and state governments will make this project possible.
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