The $20m apartment project helping key workers live closer to work
Housing Trust's new development offers a glimpse of the higher-density housing planned around Wollongong Hospital.
Tucked beneath Mount Keira and within walking distance of Wollongong Hospital, a new 27-unit social and affordable housing development is ready to welcome its first tenants.
The $20 million Housing Trust development, known as Warruya, is one of the first completed examples of the type of housing expected to play a role in Wollongong’s emerging Health Precinct.
Plans for the precinct include more than 1,000 new homes, 10,000 jobs and the future redevelopment of Wollongong Hospital.
Warruya includes 15 affordable housing units and 12 social housing apartments, with several homes dedicated to key workers and female-led households.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and Member for Wollongong, Paul Scully, said Warruya reflects the type of housing expected to emerge around Wollongong Hospital as the Health Precinct evolves.
“A part of the Wollongong Health Precinct plan was to have additional housing, principally that would be to assist with housing people who are working at the hospital or in associated areas,” Scully said.
“You would expect to see greater density through time around the hospital.”
He said the growth of the hospital and surrounding health services would inevitably drive changes to the area’s housing mix.
The NSW Government is expected to place the Wollongong Health Precinct rezoning on public exhibition later this year.
The proposal includes additional housing, expanded health services, improved public spaces and new walking and cycling connections around the hospital.
Housing Trust chair Roy Rogers said the Warruya development had been designed to house a mix of residents, including key workers and people struggling to find affordable housing close to Wollongong’s major employment centres.
“We’re celebrating the structure today, but in the next few weeks we’ll be celebrating the heart of the building,” Rogers said.
“The heart will come from the tenants and the people who will call this building their home.”
Warruya has been delivered at a time of significant housing pressure across the Illawarra, with more than 3,200 households on the social housing waiting list and an estimated five per cent of local households needing affordable housing.
The project was supported by Wollongong City Council, the NSW and Federal governments, and Housing Trust, including a no-interest loan through the first round of the Federal Government’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.
Housing Trust CEO Amanda Winks said the project was the result of collaboration between all levels of government and the community housing sector.
“We are incredibly proud to see these homes complete and ready for people to move in,” she said.
“Bringing Warruya from early planning through to delivery has taken the care, commitment and contribution of many people.”
Named Warruya, meaning “Aunty” in Dharawal language, the development honours female Elders as carers and knowledge holders while recognising generations of healthcare workers who have served the community through nearby Wollongong Hospital.
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