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The state’s Housing Taskforce will monitor and report on housing delivery efforts by government agencies in order to bolster development across NSW.
The NSW government has announced that it will launch new State Agency League Tables that will track the performance of government agencies when processing development approvals.
The state’s government has published stats around council performance on development application assessments since July of last year and noted that this decision has resulted in a 10 per cent improvement in performance compared to before the initiatives began.
To further increase productivity in NSW, the state will now launch a second league which will monitor and hold to account the housing delivery performance of 22 state government agencies, state-owned corporations and electrical supply authorities across NSW.
Minister for planning and public spaces, Paul Scully, said that this expansion was being undertaken to offer more homes in a quicker time frame to people across the state.
“We want the planning pipeline from lodgment, to assessment, commencement and completion, to be working as efficiently as possible, because that is what will actually see a family, a downsizer or a young person put a key in the door of their new home,” Scully said.
Development of the State Agency League Tables has been undertaken by the NSW Housing Taskforce, which was launched last year as a multi-agency group that works to accelerate the assessment and commencement of housing projects.
The new tracker will publish data on the number of concurrences, integrated development approvals and referrals (CIRs) for each government agency over the last six months.
Notably, the tracker will also measure how many of these organisations are meeting their legislated time frames for development time frames, to ensure they meet the time frame in 90 per cent of all cases.
The NSW government noted that delays or conflicts in approvals or advice from agencies can result in delays to a council issuing a development approval, and lead to further housing supply challenges.
Since its establishment earlier this year, the NSW Housing Taskforce has helped resolve 1,985 referral cases that unblocked roughly 31,000 dwellings.
“The Housing Taskforce has unlocked around 31,000 homers since it was formed, I anticipate that the Agency League Table will see even more homes move from approval to commencement,” Scully said.
With NSW already predicted to have the biggest shortfall of homes for the National Housing Accord, the NSW government said that the release of the Agency League Table was the “next step in increasing transparency and accountability” for each agency, state-owned organisation and electrical supply authority.
“Just like what we have done with councils, this is about holding ourselves to account, improving our own performance and making sure that everyone is able to get into a home,” Scully said.
The Property Council of Australia welcomed the launch of the new State Agency League Tables, with NSW executive director Katie Stevenson describing the initiative as a step towards greater accountability in the planning system.
“For too long, projects have been caught in a bureaucratic bottleneck, with post-approval processes delaying shovel-read developments,” Stevenson said.
“The release of State Agency League Tables is a positive move towards holding government agencies accountable for unnecessary delays that slow down the delivery of new homes.”
Nevertheless, Stevenson emphasised that greater reform would be necessary in order to address the logistical challenges that are delaying approvals and curbing the state’s housing delivery.
“There is more to do. Many approved projects remain stalled due to unnecessary post-consent hurdles,” Stevenson said.
“The NSW government must now turn its focus to clearing these roadblocks by simplifying the design modification process and making sure agencies are adequately resourced to handle an increased volume of applications,” she said.
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