New housing authority receives applications for more than 40,000 homes in three weeks

The Minns government’s new Housing Delivery Authority has been bombarded with applications in just three weeks, with the potential for 40,000 new homes.

Applications for new housing proposals of more than 40,000 homes have been put to the Minns governments new housing body in just three weeks.

The Housing Delivery Authority (HDA), ruled by three of the state’s top public servants has received nearly 100 expressions of interest (EOI) since applications opened less than a month ago.

The Daily Telegraph revealed the introduction of the new three-person body in November after the Minns government empowered the body to approve large housing developments worth more than $60 million in Sydney and $30 million in the bush, thereby fast-tracking major housing projects.

The new Housing Delivery Authority has received applications for housing proposals totalling 40,000 homes in just three weeks: Picture: NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

So far the HDA has received 85 applications for projects worth over $60 million in Sydney and 11 in regional NSW. The projects combined have the potential to provide over 40,000 new homes.

The panel will hope to expedite the large proposals, which are often complicated and historically get bogged down in the state’s complicated planning system for years.

The troika aims to approve as many as 100 projects every year, taking an average of 275 days to deliver a decision.

The authority, which will be able to bypass councils in its decisions, will include Premier’s Department Secretary Simon Draper, Planning boss Kiersten Fishburn, and Infrastructure NSW CEO Tom Gellibrand.

The HDA will meet for the first time in early February to assess applications and determine which projects should be declared State Significant Developments. The projects will then undergo community consultation and further assessment.

Planning Minister Paul Scully and Premier Chris Minns. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Planning Minister Paul Scully said the number of expressions of interest received for the planning panel far outstripped the number the government was expecting.

“We expected 80 to 100 EOIs in the first year, so to see this many in less than a month signals trust from the industry in the Minns Government to deliver,” he said.

“This pathway is about seeing good quality projects move through the planning system faster and as part of that process, if we don’t see shovels in the ground in two years, proponent will lose their approval.”

Premier Chris Minns said the number of applications showed the reforms were starting to work.

“For far too long, it has been made harder and harder for people to build homes in NSW, so it is wonderful to see these reforms starting to turn that around,” he said.

“Without these major changes that are speeding up the delivery of new homes, Sydney risks becoming a city without a future because it’s simply too expensive to put a roof over your head.”

Originally published as New housing authority receives applications for more than 40,000 homes in three weeks