Regional Housing Taskforce recommendations released

Consistent with our strategic commitment to deepening our understanding of regional NSW, we have dedicated a lot of effort in recent months to making a quality contribution to the Regional Housing Taskforce review.

As a reminder, the review was headed by an independent planning expert – tasked with identifying how the planning system can address housing supply and affordability in regional communities. This week the Taskforce released its final recommendations report. We will provide a more detailed review in coming days but at a high level we’re encouraged to see the Taskforce not confine itself to ‘planning matters’ and acknowledge ‘social and affordable housing as essential social and economic infrastructure’.This is consistent with the view of Infrastructure Australia, an independent advisory group, which has identified the critical lack of social housing stock in NSW to be of national significance.

The report outlines five key recommendations for the NSW Government to consider, including:

  1. Support measures to bring forward a supply of ‘development-ready’ land;
  2. Increase the availability of affordable and diverse housing;
  3. Provide more certainty about where, when and what types of homes will be built;
  4. Investigate planning levers to facilitate the delivery of housing that meet short-term needs; and
  5. Improve monitoring of housing and policy outcomes, and demand indicators.

For more information about our earlier comments on the Taskforce findings report please refer to this news article on our website, and our submission to the Taskforce. 
Garry Fielding, the Independent Chair of the Taskforce, will be a guest speaker at our AGM, along with Katherine Bassett and Geraldyne How of the Regional Australia Institute. More details available here.Â