MASSIVE ADVOCACY WIN: Ambitious housing targets for local councils
Premier Chris Minns today announced a new round of housing targets for local councils- setting out where the government expects the 377,000 new homes to be delivered in NSW over the next five years. This is a really big deal. Housing targets are the single most powerful tool that the state government has to encourage more homes in the places that people want to live. Combined with recent reforms such as the Transport Oriented Development and the Diverse and Well Located Homes programs, these targets will force councils across the city to rewrite their planning rules, helping to deliver the housing that we need to achieve an affordable, sustainable and liveable Sydney. Let’s dive into this announcement in detail.
Why are housing targets so important?
Housing targets are set by the state government for councils in Sydney, specifying how many homes they expect to be built in each LGA. This is the key driver of councils’ decision making- council planners are supposed to design planning rules so that the number of homes set in their targets are built. This is why targets are so important- they influence every single decision that every single council makes about housing and planning.
Targets also provide some appropriate flexibility to councils. If they don’t like the State government’s TOD or DWLH plans, they can draw up different plans – as long as they meet the target. If councils are willing to approve an appropriate number of homes, then they should get a say in style, heritage and the precise locations of development.
What’s new in these targets?
The targets announced today are an update to a previous round of targets set in 2020 by the now-disbanded Greater Sydney Commission. These were criticised for being too low and for directing most development into Western Sydney, letting the wealthiest councils in Sydney off lightly. For example- Mosman was only expected to build 50 homes a year, or only 0.38% of its housing stock, while Parramatta was expected to build 4,500 each year, 90 times as many. Have a look at the map below- do you think this is a fair distribution of housing across Sydney?
Figure 1: Previous Housing Targets
Source: Sydney YIMBY, CIS
Explore our dynamic map of the old targets here
The targets announced today are an improvement. The number of homes targeted to be delivered in Sydney has increased by almost 40% to more than 50,000 per year, and many councils in the east and north- the places with the most critical shortages of housing- have seen the biggest increases in their targets. Ku-Ring-Gai council has seen their target increase from 600 per year to 1,520 per year, Woollahra’s target has quadrupled (albeit from a low base) and the City of Sydney has seen an increase of almost 1,000 homes per year. Have a look at the changed targets and find out how many new homes are coming to your local area:
Figure 2: Updated Housing Targets
Source: Sydney YIMBY, DPHI, CIS.
Explore our dynamic map here
There’s a pretty large increase in targets right across Sydney. While there’s still a large amount of development in the West, particularly in The Hills Shire and Liverpool councils, we’re excited to see an increase in targets in the east and north- giving people who want to live in these places a better chance at finding a home they can afford. If these housing targets are met, Sydney will be a better, fairer and cheaper place to live.
Chart 1: New and Previous Targets by distance to CBD
Source: Sydney YIMBY. Note:Sydney CBD defined as centre of the City of Sydney LGA. New targets are in gross completions, whereas previous targets are net completions, modestly overstating the increase between the two.
What’s next?
As well as being inadequate and unfairly distributed, the old targets were barely enforced. Most councils are on track to miss them, and there was no real incentive to meet them, or punishment for falling short. It’s really important that the state government makes it clear that they will monitor councils’ progress, rewarding those that allow building and intervening if councils drag their feet. It was announced today that the government will provide additional funding to councils that meet and exceed their targets- which is a great first step.
We’d like to see the state government set out clear, transparent rules for councils that miss their target. This should take the form of overruling council planning rules- such as automatically rezoning land near transport hubs and town centres for high-density development and taking away council’s ability to determine developments itself. It needs to be clear to councils that these targets are mandatory, and if they wish to keep control of their planning rules, they need to work in good faith to deliver homes.
We’ll be keeping the pressure on councils and DPHI to ensure that these targets are met, and we need your help. Sign up as a member, join our mailing list, or come along to one of our events. The next entry in our ‘urbanism talks’ series will be happening soon, on the topic of ‘family friendly apartment living’.
