Develop affordable rental housing

The NSW Government supports the development of affordable housing that is targeted to very low, low and moderate income earners. It does this in a range of ways, including:

• Providing floor space incentives for developments which contain affordable housing through the planning mechanism of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (Housing SEPP)
• Facilitating other incentives for developments which contain affordable housing via mechanisms such as negotiated/voluntary planning agreements
• Offering financial and other incentives, in partnership with the Commonwealth Government, to build and rent new properties at below market rents, for example via National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS)
• Making grants available to assist construction of new affordable rental housing through the Community Housing Innovation Fund and Social and Affordable Housing Fund
• Encouraging partnerships between community housing providers, local government and others, including private developers, on affordable housing projects
• Providing assistance to councils to secure affordable housing.

It is important to reiterate that affordable housing (as a discount to market rent product) commonly requires a subsidy or assistance from one or more levels of Government to make development feasible.  Generally, a range of measures and partners will be required for an affordable housing project to stack up financially.

The section on examples of affordable housing projects provides more information.