Sydney will be "up to the job" of accommodating a sudden influx of thousands of new renters when NSW takes in its share of 12,000 refugees, the state's planning minister says.
Rob Stokes has acknowledged the city faces a chronic housing affordability problem, but says the one-off arrival of new Syrian and Iraqi renters in Sydney's west and southwest is a drop in the ocean compared with growth projections for the next 15 years.
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"I am not concerned about the capacity of the city to be able to deal with these sorts of problems or challenges - I think these sorts of challenges are what brings out the best in our citizenry," Mr Stokes told reporters on Thursday.
"But what I also say is the city is going to grow by 1.6 million people out to 2031, so in terms of that, 7000 people is not a huge challenge.
"I'm sure we're up to the job."
The NSW government is yet to confirm how many refugees the state will take in, although Premier Mike Baird has indicated he is ready to accept "more than our fair share".
"It is too early for us to be determining the number of Syrian refugees to be accepted by NSW," a spokesman for the premier said on Thursday.
"Peter Shergold begins his role as the NSW co-ordinator-general for refugee resettlement next week and we will have more to say on this matter in due course."
Mr Baird said on Monday the state would look at ways to settle refugees around regional NSW, though he has not indicated what proportion of the total intake those measures would be aimed at.
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