NSW STATE GOVERNMENT SCRAMBLING TO MEET HOUSING SHORTAGE

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By SARAH WATERS

IN response to questions about the housing crisis in the Northern Rivers, a NSW Government spokesperson says it will work with local government and the development sector to improve housing and rental affordability.

“Affordable housing is one of the government’s priorities and we will be looking at ways to increase this important type of housing in NSW,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes things like what incentives we may consider to encourage developers to incorporate more affordable housing projects and requiring 30 per cent of homes on government surplus land to be social, affordable and universal housing.”

The spokesperson said it planned to carry out a range of rental reforms and take pressure off the housing shortage through the appointment of a rental commissioner.

The role of the rental commissioner will be to ensure transparency between tenants and landlords and to protect renters from unfair evictions, including ending no-grounds evictions.

While, housing developer Landcom, which works on behalf of the NSW Government, plans to carry out a build-to-rent pilot in the Northern Rivers.

The spokesperson said it would also look at ways to improve the planning system ‘to speed up the delivery of more homes and infrastructure.’

“We also recognise the need for more social housing in the Northern Rivers.

“The NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) owns 3323 social housing properties in the Northern Rivers and currently has two projects in East Lismore in design that will deliver 20 homes by 2025.

“NSW Land and Housing Corporation has also acquired one home and has a further 12 projects currently in design that will deliver 195 homes across the neighbouring Richmond Valley, Ballina and Tweed Local Government Areas by 2026.”

The spokesperson did not comment specifically on whether the NSW government would support a Common Ground housing model in the Tweed, but simply said ‘LAHC is committed to working with local council and any community housing providers to fund and deliver additional housing infrastructure for the region to meet its future needs’.