Replacing ageing suburban brick cottages for multi-level unit blocks in Sydney will be quicker under new laws amid a massive demand for social housing in NSW.
The new planning laws unveiled on Monday will allow state-owned housing corporations to bypass development consent more often and allow dual occupancy on smaller lots.
Internal NSW government figures showed the sluggish housing pipeline would leave the state 134,000 dwellings short in the next five years.
The government also inherited a planning system in which development approval processing times had blown out from 69 days on average in July 2021 to 116 days in March 2023.
A two-storey unit block being built about 900 metres from Westmead Hospital was a great example of what was needed, NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson said outside the construction site.
"This was four old rundown cottages that are being transformed into 18 modern dwellings for over-55s here in this community," she said on Monday.
"There is a massive need for housing for older people and that is exactly what we are delivering."
Under the changes to the state significant development pathway, the Land and Housing Corporation and the Aboriginal Housing Office can approve developments of up to 75 dwellings and three storeys.
The limit had been 20 dwellings until 2020.
Both bodies, as well as community housing providers, can build two dwellings on blocks as small as 400 square metres, down from 450sq m.
State property developer Landcom will also be permitted to tick off its projects over $30 million where at least half is affordable housing.
The alternative process to local council approvals includes rigorous checks and balances and allows councils and communities to comment on the housing proposal, the government says.
The pathway was opened last week for private projects worth more than $75m where at least 15 per cent of the floor area was affordable housing.
"The challenge we've got in front of us is now too great for one sector of the market, one housing type, one tenure to solve alone," Planning Minister Paul Scully said on Monday.
Internal briefings to the government in March showed a housing construction shortfall of 134,000 dwellings over five years, based on population growth.
More than 57,000 families and single people are on the social housing waiting list, with many told they'll be waiting for at least 10 years for a home.
Meanwhile, former federal Liberal MP Jason Falinski and former Labor housing minister David Borger will lend their hands to launch a grassroots group going toe-to-toe with NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) movements in Sydney.
Sydney NIMBY has begun letterbox drops in Marrickville to stop heritage overlay increases after similar movements sprung up in Melbourne and Canberra.
"The reason housing is so expensive is that we are not building enough, and a major reason is that the planning system blocks increases in density," spokeswoman and town planner Melissa Neighbour said.
