Hills Shire Council accuses NSW Government of setting ‘unrealistic housing targets’

A Western Sydney council has claimed the state government’s five-year housing target is ‘overly ambitious’ and accused them of neglecting critical infrastructure elsewhere.

A Western Sydney council has hit out at the state government’s bid to relieve the housing crisis, claiming they had set “unrealistic” targets and neglected other critical infrastructure.

Hills Shire mayor Peter Gangemi said in a Mayoral Minute shared during a council meeting on Tuesday, June 11, the Minns’ government’s five-years housing completion targets for the Shire were “overly ambitious” given the time frame and current state of the construction industry.

The targets, which were released in May, were created in support of the federal government’s National Housing Accord and designed to alleviate the housing crisis gripping New South Wales by building more homes.

The Hills Shire, one of the fastest growing areas in Greater Sydney, is one of 43 councils involved in the state scheme and has the highest target with 23,300 new homes by 2029.

The New South Wales five-year housing targets were released in May by premier Chris Minns (pictured right). The targets are in support of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s (left) National Housing Accord, which aims to tackle the housing crisis by building more homes in New South Wales. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

A financial incentive of $200m is also on offer should the targets be met.

Cr Gangemi said in his Mayoral Minute on Tuesday the council had already planned for future growth and approved more than 17,000 new homes, which are awaiting completion, and that there was enough zoned land for an another 50,400.

He said the assumption those 17,000 new homes, plus the extra 6,300 needed to meet the target, will be built in the next five years was “well beyond what history shows the market can deliver.”

The New South Wales construction industry has been delivered blow after blow with rising costs of materials and staff and a slump in sales, which has contributed to slower completion of mass infrastructure.

Cr Gangemi criticised the government on being “slow to deliver” critical infrastructure in the growing Shire, such as roads, hospitals and emergency services.

He said these are critical to supporting growing communities; especially schools, which in The Hills, are the most overcrowded in the state.

Mayor Peter Gangemi speaking at Hills Shire event.

“Forty-six per cent (of Hills schools are) over their enrolment cap by more than 100 students and some campuses (are) exceeding their official capacity by 1000 students,” he said.

It comes after the government announced last week two new schools for Box Hill, one primary and one secondary, following a successful campaign from The Daily Telegraph. The new schools, which will cater to 2000 new students, will open in 2028.

A third new school in Gables, which will cater for 1000 students, will open in 2027.

Cr Gangemi said these new schools were “a step in the right direction”, but if the government wanted to see the housing target met, they would need to invest in widening and increasing capacity on major roads, fast-track schools, start and finish the Rouse Hill hospital and acquire all land required for drainage land and open space for Box Hill – a major growth centre.

Box Hill in Sydney’s North West (pictured) has thousands of houses but not much else, though it will soon be home to two new schools, one primary and one high school. Picture: Jonathan Ng

He said the government had not revealed their logic behind the housing target numbers and claimed they had simply dispersed the New South Wales portion of the National Housing Accord.

The mayor then put forth a motion that suggested the council write to the Department of Planning and Housing and request the Hills housing target be reconfigured to a more realistic standard and that council write to the relevant Ministers requesting increased funding for TAFE courses in building and construction while encouraging school students to also study those subjects.

Cr Gangemi also suggested he write to Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully to tour Box Hill, which the council argued was suffering from infrastructure shortfalls.

The motion was carried.

A Department of Planning spokesman said the methodology behind the targets included the latest data on housing activity, existing and planned infrastructure, construction time frames, planning reforms and industry and market conditions.

“The Department has briefed all councils on the methodology used to develop the targets shortly following their release, and offered one-on-one briefings to all councils,” the spokesman said.

“The Hills Shire Council requested a subsequent meeting and this is being arranged.”

The spokesman said 75 per cent of The Hills’ housing target included homes which are already in the system, most of which have already been approved by council or have been planned for being built over the next five years.

“The NSW Government has provided Hills Shire Council with an investment of $163 million for development infrastructure to support more than 80,000 homes and 800 jobs over the last five financial years to June 2023,” he said.