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The state has revealed its new Housing Delivery Authority which could provide housing developments with an approval timeline that is “potentially reduced by years”.
The NSW government has unveiled new state-led approval processes for major residential housing projects and rezonings, aimed at reducing approval times and speeding up the delivery of new homes by not requiring council approvals.
Speaking on these announcements, NSW Premier Chris Minns described the initiatives as “huge reforms that we are not proposing lightly”, emphasising that the “scale of the problem requires this significant change”.
“NSW needs significant new housing supply near existing infrastructure but at the same time too many well-located areas in Sydney have put too many barriers up for too long,” Premier Minns said.
Faster approval times
This new pathway, set to launch in early 2025 following a stakeholder consultation period, will enable selected proposals to bypass council review and benefit from an approval timeline that the NSW government noted could be “potentially reduced by years”.
The new approvals process will be available for new housing developments valued above an estimated development cost of $60 million (on average 100 or more homes) in Greater Sydney, and those costing approximately $30 million (on average 40 or more homes) in regional NSW.
Proposals will then be selected through an expressions of interest (EOI) process based on established criteria, being judged on merit with a flexible approach to planning controls, such as the incremental zoning changes needed to pursue a development application.
This pathway will be established within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, and managed by the new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA), with Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, remaining the consent authority for projects in the pathway.
Among the key figures overseeing the HDA are secretary of the premier’s department, Simon Draper, the secretary of the department of planning, Kiersten Fishburn and the CEO of infrastructure NSW, Tom Gellibrand.
A simplified rezoning process
The state’s government will also introduce a new pathway in the rezoning process allowing selected projects which would deliver “significant housing uplift” but require more significant rezonings to access a fast-tracked timeline that does not require council processes.
Rezoning proposals will be able to be submitted to an EOI process, run by the Housing Delivery Authority, where they will be considered against a criteria which is set to be determined by a future stakeholder consultation process.
In addition to allowing new projects to simultaneously undergo rezoning and development assessment, the NSW government also noted that councils will be able to reduce the number of large applications they assess each year, and instead allocate more resources towards reviewing less complex projects.
Commenting on the initiatives, Minister Scully said the NSW government is “doing everything in its power to tackle the housing crisis and encourage developers to build and boost housing supply and overall affordability”.
“These latest reforms mean the state is taking control of major housing projects so that they have the attention they deserve and get through the assessment process much faster,” Minister Scully said.
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