St George Community Housing (SGCH), the largest community housing provider in NSW, has welcomed the NSW Government announcement of major planning changes for Transport Oriented Development that will enable delivery of more homes within 400m of identified stations.
“This is a significant step towards unlocking more homes. Crucially the government is also mandating a minimum 2% affordable housing contribution on all new developments in these locations,” SGCH Group CEO Scott Langford said.
“Together with the government commitment that the affordable housing contribution will gradually increase over time, this supports inclusion of affordable housing in our communities.”
SGCH had called for longer term structural reform, phased in over time in direct response to the planning changes announced last year, ratcheting up commitments as a form of superannuation for our cities.
Mr Langford said SGCH was also encouraged by the support of the policy by the majority of Councils in the target local government areas.
“Two per cent contributions to affordable housing is less than what is required, but it is a start,” Mr Langford said. “The Minister has set an expectation that any local plans must go beyond the NSW Government’s housing expectations, not backwards. This leaves open the opportunity for local governments to lift the bar. Combined with other levers – including direct government funding – we can deliver urgently needed affordable housing.
“Great places are made up of a diversity of people who have a diversity of housing needs. We need the people who make our communities work – teachers, essential workers in health and hospitality – to be able to live, learn, work and play in the communities they serve. These planning reforms are a step towards making this a reality for more people.
“We need government support at all levels and new partnerships to build the scale of social and affordable housing required to make up for decades of underinvestment in a diversity of housing. There is an urgency to build solutions.”