Penrith Forum To Address Housing Affordability

With Sydney’s housing the second-least affordable in the world, people struggle to find a place to buy or rent.

The Penrith Affordable Housing Forum will bring together all levels of government with academics, service providers, and church members next month, to address this issue of housing affordability.

The forum will feature Dr Tim Williams from Ar up and Western Sydney University. Dr Williams has advised Australian and UK governments on housing. It will also hear from Magnus Linder from Churches Housing. Both speakers will address the recent Penrith survey.

Invited politicians from all levels of government will share their plans on affordable housing. These will include:

John Thain, Mayor of Penrith

The Hon Stuart Ayres, Member for Penrith and Minister for Western Sydney

Jenny Leong, NSW State Greens spokesperson on Housing

Senator Doug Cameron, Federal Shadow Minister for Housing

The Penrith Affordable Housing Forum is a joint initiative of Penrith Uniting Church, Sydney Alliance, and the Social Justice Forum. It grew out of a housing survey that the Sydney Alliance conducted in Penrith in March.

More than 30 Uniting Church members were part of this community survey.

The head of the Social Justice Forum, Jon O’Brien, said that the event was a unique opportunity.

“The idea is that we hear not just about the issues but what our political representatives are doing or will commit to do about this critical issue,” he said.

“This is even more important as we are less than a year out from both state and federal elections.”

The Penrith Affordable Housing Forum takes place at Penrith Uniting Church on Saturday, 26 May, from 10am-12 noon. Morning tea will be provided.

For more information, contact ssanders@uniting.org or 0412 070 194

Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor