Minns to turbocharge Sydney’s density with affordable housing bonuses for developers

Developers will be given stronger incentives to build higher, denser housing developments that override local environment plans under the Labor government’s first major reform to help solve Sydney’s housing affordability crisis.

Premier Chris Minns will on Thursday unveil a suite of incentives for large private developments containing at least 15 per cent “affordable housing” – that is, homes typically offered at 20-25 per cent below the market rate for 15 years, often managed by not-for-profits.

“We want to maximise affordable housing in private developments too, not just on public land”: NSW Premier Chris Minns.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Developments worth over $75 million that clear the 15 per cent hurdle will be fast-tracked through the “state significant development” pathway which bypasses local councils and planning panels.

They will also get access to a 30 per cent floor space bonus, and a height bonus of 30 per cent above what is permitted under the controls set by corresponding local council environment plans.

“We want to maximise affordable housing in private developments too, not just on public land,” Minns will tell the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue in a speech at Accor Stadium on Thursday.

“This will result in more affordable housing entering the market, and more supply overall, both of which are crucial in tackling housing affordability and meeting our requirements for new dwellings.”

The changes will allow Planning Minister Paul Scully to declare complying developments as state significant, speeding up approvals (or rejections). Given the $75 million hurdle, the scheme is targeted at big developers engaged in large-scale housing projects.

The reforms, which will take effect later this year, are part of the NSW government’s commitment under the National Housing Accord to make planning reforms that enable the construction of 314,000 homes over five years.

Minns has also asked government departments and agencies to identify surplus public land to be redeveloped into housing, and will set a 30 per cent target for social and affordable housing in any development on that land.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times people in western Sydney have told me they’ve given up on finding an affordable place to live,” Minns will say on Thursday, according to speech notes.

The Minns government wants to increase building density to ease Sydney’s housing crisis.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“The dream of home ownership has slipped out of reach for far too many people. Calling it a ‘housing crisis’ isn’t an overstatement. We need to tackle this from all angles, but the main one is housing supply.”

At the same time, Minns will use the Lachlan Macquarie Lecture to affirm his election commitment to pare back greenfield housing developments on the city’s western edge. The new government has repeatedly promised to rebalance housing growth toward the better-connected inner city and away from the west.

“We can’t just keep adding a street to the fringes of Sydney every time we need more housing,” he will say. “We need to look closer to the city, where so many people currently work, and where key workers need to travel to every single day.

“Western Sydney is a great place to live, but it’s not the only place. We need to share density across this great city.”

The government’s view was largely supported by the outgoing chief commissioner of the Greater Cities Commission, Geoff Roberts, in an unrelated interview with the Herald on Wednesday.

Roberts said Sydney had to stop nearly all greenfield development – housing projects on bare, undeveloped land usually on the city fringe. There were some areas where it would work, he said, such as along the forthcoming metro line between St Marys and Western Sydney Airport.

“Surely, we should be optimising the housing and jobs around those stations,” said Roberts, who leaves the commission at the end of June after eight years.

“Equally, we should be looking at Bella Vista, Showground, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill. Equally, we should be looking at Sydenham to Bankstown [metro conversion] in the southern part of the city. Equally, we should be looking at west metro and Sydney Olympic Park and the Bays Precinct.”

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