Hunter residential building approvals are at their lowest level in six years as the region struggles with a rental and accommodation crisis.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said on Monday that he had ordered his ministers to identify any surplus land which could be rezoned for homes.
The pressing need for new housing in the Hunter is borne out by building approvals data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
The numbers show 3390 new houses, apartments, duplexes and townhouses were approved across the region in the first nine months of the 2022-23 financial year.
This puts the region on a trajectory for 4520 new dwelling approvals for the full financial year, down 17 per cent on last year and the lowest level since 2016-17, when 4503 dwellings were approved. Dwelling approvals reached a high of 6042 in 2020-21.
The Housing Industry Association provided separate figures to the Newcastle Herald on Monday which showed residential building approvals falling 21 per cent in the Hunter in the 12 months to March.
The Herald reported last week that community housing providers were critical of the federal budget's lack of urgency around increasing the supply of new social and affordable housing.
Shelter NSW published a report in February which showed Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Cessnock, Maitland and Newcastle were among the state's 10 local government areas with the most housing need.
HIA Hunter executive director Craig Jennion said on Monday that the answer to improving housing affordability was increasing supply.
"The state government recognising that they need to assist is an important step to addressing this challenge," he said.
"Greater investment in increasing supply will assist in reducing the number of households experiencing housing stress in this region."
The number of Hunter detached house approvals is on track to fall 28 per cent from 4034 last year to about 2882 in 2022-23, while the number of apartment and townhouse approvals could rise by about 200 over the same period.
Several huge housing subdivisions, including Winten's proposed Minmi estate and the Kings Hill development north of Raymond Terrace, have been mired in the state's planning system for years.
Mr Jennion welcomed a renewed focus on coordinating government departments to smooth the approvals process for such developments but "the timeframe to get the approvals required still means these are not solutions that will come on board in the next couple of years".
He said the proposed Hunter Park sport, entertainment and housing redevelopment on government-owned land at Broadmeadow had been "drip-fed over a number of years".
"It's certainly one of the large catalyst areas that the industry would very much like to be supporting for the provision of diverse housing."
Mr Jennion said greater government and community support for townhouses and duplexes in existing suburbs would "go a long way to providing the affordable housing our region requires".
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