The centrepiece of the NSW budget is a $2.2 billion Housing and Infrastructure Plan as the state government aims to address the housing crisis.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said housing affordability and availability is one of the biggest pressures facing NSW residents.
“NSW is in the midst of a fierce housing crisis. Rents are rising. Interest rates are climbing. Home ownership rates are falling,” Mookhey said in his budget speech.
“Demand for social housing is increasing. Homelessness is worsening.
“The next generation fears permanent eviction from safe and secure housing.”
The government has introduced a $2.2 billion plan to build the foundations of a better living environment for NSW residents.
The $2.2 billion Housing and Infrastructure Plan includes:
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$1.5 billion to build infrastructure such as roads, parks, hospitals and schools to support the construction of new homes across Sydney, the Lower Hunter, Central Coast and the Illawarra
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$400 million reserved in Restart NSW for the new Housing Infrastructure Fund, to deliver infrastructure that will increase housing supply across NSW
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$300 million for Landcom to accelerate the construction of thousands of new homes, with 30 per cent affordable housing
The $1.5 billion is to create practical infrastructure around housing developments.
That $400 million Housing Infrastructure Fund is financed from money left over after more than 700 Restart NSW projects were finished.
“Many of those dollars have been idling in the government’s bank accounts for years,” Mookhey said.
In essence, $1.9 billion will go towards ensuring new housing developments across the state have the infrastructure to support residents.
From new city lights, sewage, footpaths, schools, and parks, the treasurer said the funding aims to create comprehensive developments with holistic infrastructure to accommodate the housing crisis.
“You can’t get to the keys to your house if you can’t get the road to your driveway,” Mookhey said.
The $300 million for publicly owned agency Landcom is the government relocating existing funds into a practical source to fast-track the construction of new homes.
It will use “reinvested dividends” to deliver 1409 affordable homes and 3288 market homes by 2039 to 2040.
“30 per cent of the new housing will be for affordable housing, targeting infill sites and government land for development,” budget documents said.
Landcom has “featured heavily in our housing past”, Mookhey said, and it needs to “feature prominently in our housing future too”.
The $300 million is in addition to the $60 million already set aside for Landcom to pilot publicly owned build-to-rent projects in the NSW Northern Rivers and Illawarra-Shoalhaven regions.
“A publicly owned company can build new housing on the public’s land for a public that needs them desperately,” Mookey said.
