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Kristina Keneally MP on NSW Govt Affordable Housing

Across NSW over 190,000 households with low or moderate incomes are paying more than 30% of their income on rent. In these troubled economic times, the NSW Government has delivered its promise to make it easier to build affordable housing – cheaper rental properties, granny flats and specialised social housing says Kristina Keneally in her advertisement in the South Sydney Herald in October 2009.

I recently joined the Premier to promote the Government’s Affordable Rental Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP). This new policy provides incentives and streamlined approval processes for:

Granny flats, can now be approved within ten days under the NSW Housing Code in all residential zones if they meet the criteria set out in the code.

Boarding houses, can receive approval in residential areas and some business zones with incentives will encourage construction of boarding houses.

New standards will allow rooms in boarding houses to include kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Counselling and other support services working with groups such as the homeless can now be delivered without having to go through council development application processes.

Affordable housing developments closer to transport hubs will receive a streamlined assessment as well as incentives to make it more attractive to invest in affordable housing projects.

These new rules will provide an incentive for developments across the state to include cheaper rental dwellings.

Home owners will also be able to build ‘granny’ flats more easily, which will provide a low rent solution for many students, older family members and other people on low incomes.

Further information regarding these changes is available at www.planning.nsw.gov.au.

Kristina Keneally MP

Member for Heffron

Shop 117, 747 Botany Road, Rosebery NSW 2018

Phone: (02) 9699 8166 Fax: (02) 9699 8222

Email: kristina.keneally@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Source: www.southsydneyherald.com.au