Premier Chris Minns offers $200m carrot to councils after calling for higher density

The Premier is expected to unveil a long-awaited overhaul of housing targets to share the load of new development

Councils who do their bit to ease the housing crisis will get a slice of $200 million in extra grant money offered up by the state government as an incentive to get local governments approving more homes more quickly.

Premier Chris Minns will unveil the $200 million olive branch to local governments at a major pre-budget speech on Wednesday.

Mr Minns is also expected to use his Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) address to unveil a long-awaited overhaul of council housing targets, which could lead to higher density in leafy areas close to public transport links.

The Daily Telegraph understands that the new housing targets will give councils a blueprint for how many homes they will need to approve and build, over five years, to get access to extra cash.

Mr Minns first flagged that he would overhaul housing targets, to ease the pressure on Western Sydney, at the Telegraph’s Bradfield Oration in 2022.

Premier Chris Minns will unveil the $200 million incentive at a pre-budget speech on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire

Councils who are meeting and beating housing targets will be eligible for a bigger slice of the grant funding, which will go to things like local parks, sporting facilities, and maintenance of council-maintained streets.

The cash will not be available to council who fail to meet housing milestones.

In a bid to increase transparency, performance of different local governments will soon be compared in the first “Council League Table” – a measure Mr Minns announced at The Daily Telegraph’s Bradfield Oration last year.

The $200 million in new grant money is specifically designed to get councils to step up their game when it comes to approving new homes.

Council League Tables, first announced by Mr Minns in his Bradfield Oration last year, will soon be published. Picture: Richard Dobson

“There are councils out there that want to embrace this challenge; that want to welcome more families into their community, and under this policy, they will get extra help to do that,” Mr Minns is expected to say in his speech.

The extra incentive will give councils “the help they need” to “pick up the slack” in housing supply, Mr Minns will say.

“The parts of Sydney which drive more development will also receive more

funding for schools, hospitals and roads. An extra $200 million – to fund the green space, the footpaths, the parks and the local streets that build good communities.”

Councils will get access to a slice of $200 million in incentives if they meet their housing targets.

The money is in addition to the $520 million the government has already committed to spend on infrastructure around eight “priority” development areas in Homebush, Hornsby, Bankstown, Kellyville, Bella Vista, the Bays in Rozelle, Crows Nest and Macquarie Park.

The extra incentives come after Mr Minns and his Planning Minister Paul Scully picked a fight with NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) councils over housing supply.

The extra $200 million in grant funding will serve as a carrot to councils to do their bit, working in conjunction with the ‘stick’ of higher density planning reforms.

It comes after the Minns government announced to give local councils $1 billion in new developer “contributions” to build enabling infrastructure.

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