Established almost a year ago to the day, the Infill Affordable Housing scheme offers additional height and floor space to developers, if at least 10 per cent of a proposed housing development is retained as affordable housing for at least 15 years, as well as offering a streamlined State Significant Development (SSD) assessment pathway.
The project has been approved under the SSD pathway and will deliver an additional 75 private dwellings and 75 affordable dwellings in Burwood town centre. The application was assessed in less than 70 days in Government hands.
Once construction is complete, the affordable housing will be managed by a registered Community Housing Provider and will be available to people on a range of incomes.
Affordable housing is an important addition to our housing mix as key workers such as health workers, teachers, childcare workers, aged carers and cleaners find it increasingly difficult to afford to live close to their jobs and the communities they grew up in due to declining housing affordability.
While the majority of homes delivered during the National Housing Accord Period will be market housing, the Minns Government introduced the SSD pathway to make sure affordable housing is delivered alongside it.
Under the SSD pathway, proposals are assessed in an average timeframe of 275 days or less, and the Infill Affordable Housing scheme has attracted strong interest with a rush of proposals in the pipeline.
So far, Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) have been issued for 70 projects, with 24 Development Applications (DA) now lodged and more than further 50 enquiries from developers interested in adding more affordable homes to projects.
When accounting for DAs lodged and SEARs issued, more than 20,000 private dwellings, including 4,600 affordable homes, could be constructed.
