The three people who will bypass councils to speed up housing supply

by Max Maddison and Michael Koziol

November 15, 2024

The Sydney Morning Herald

Labor will create a three-person Housing Delivery Authority that can approve spot land rezonings and major housing developments simultaneously, bypassing local councils in what Premier Chris Minns described as “a big step forward and a significant change” to deliver more housing.

The troika will be empowered to pluck proposals out of the planning system, or take applications from developers, and would potentially shave years off typical approval time frames, Minns said.

The premier said there was a “disconnect” between what the state needed and what the planning system was delivering. “Our system is not planning to help you live the good life.”

The triumvirate will be composed of Premier’s Department secretary Simon Draper, Department of Planning secretary Kiersten Fishburn and Infrastructure NSW chief executive Tom Gellibrand.

Tom Forrest, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce developer lobby group and a former NSW Labor chief of staff, said it was a big step in overcoming a broken planning system.

“This is the bold reform we have been waiting for. The government is taking responsibility and pushing through the NIMBY attitude of many councils which has held us back,” he said.

Local Government NSW president Darriea Turley said the announcement was a “Christmas gift for developers” that would remove the community’s voice.

“This new pathway will deliver windfall gains for developers and worsen congestion, create overcrowding and remove the safeguards that protect communities from inappropriate and ad hoc development,” she said.

The reforms will come into effect in early 2025, after a brief consultation with stakeholders.

Under the expedited approval pathway, housing developments in Greater Sydney with a capital cost of $60 million, the average for 100 or more homes, could have their application assessed by the HDA rather than councils.

A new rezoning pathway will also be created, allowing for projects with “significant” housing uplift potential but dependent on major rezoning to go through a Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) fast-track process that is not reliant on councils. Submissions will be made through an expressions of interest process.

“Broadly, the policy development follows a simple principle: we need to allow new housing in parts of Sydney and regional NSW where housing is currently most feasible,” Minns said in a speech at The Daily Telegraph’s Bradfield Oration on Friday.

“And, like any big change, I’m sure some people will push back against it, but we’re making this call because we don’t have any time to waste. Housing is the defining challenge of this age, a problem that breeds other problems.”

Minns said that while many people wanted to live in Sydney, and companies were keen to invest in NSW, “we are told constantly that it’s just too hard”. Interest rates and construction costs added to the problem, he said, but “we think the biggest barrier is [our] complicated planning system, and we’ve got to get it out of the way”.

The announcement comes with the state government languishing behind the 378,000-dwelling target agreed by Minns as part of the National Housing Accord. Updated DPHI forecasts show 151,670 new homes will be built in Greater Sydney by July 2029, considerably below the 263,000 needed.

Despite a suite of housing reforms since taking office in March last year, housing approvals and completions have continued to fall, as stiff economic headwinds batter developers, making construction increasingly unfeasible.

Earlier this week this masthead revealed nearly 50,000 dwellings across Greater Sydney approved in 2021 and 2022 have not commenced construction, underlining the economic barriers inhibiting housing supply and raising questions about whether Labor’s reforms could make a difference.