The new Affordable Rental Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) is designed to encourage home owners, social housing providers and developers to invest and create new affordable rental housing.

This page contains detailed information about the new SEPP aimed at practitioners, including building developers, architects, building designers, consulting planners, and councils' strategic planners, GIS officers and customer service staff.

Legislation and guidelines

SEPP (Affordable Rental Housing) 2009

Affordable Rental Housing SEPP: guidelines for retention of existing affordable rental housing (2009)

Section 94G(3)(b) Direction — issued by the Minister for Planning under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 on 2 October 2009. The Direction requires consent authorities to pay the monetary contributions levied under the SEPP to the Chief Executive, Housing NSW, Department of Human Services.

SEPP No. 70 Affordable Housing (Revised Schemes) — this SEPP will continue to apply to allow the operation of existing housing schemes, which would otherwise have expired.

Information for applicants

Director-General's site compatability certificate: guidelines for applications (2009) — provides information for applicants wishing to apply for a site compatability certificate from the Director-General of the Department of Planning

Director-General's site compatability certificate: application form — to be used to apply to the Director-General for a Site Compatibility Certificate:
- PDF version to print and complete in hard copy
- MS Word version to complete electronically.

Technical and funding information

Table of low-rental dwellings
List of the first quartile and median weekly rental by dwelling size (bedsit, one, two and three bedroom flat or unit) for each local government area. The Year 2 heading is for the current (previous) 12 monthly period, while the Year 1 heading is for the 12 month period prior to Year 2. These two figures define the thresholds against which the rents for each unit in the residential flat building are compared for the previous two years.

National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS)
This scheme provides financial incentives for the development of affordable housing to eligible tenants for a period of ten years. It is available for all forms of rental accommodation except boarding houses.

The Boarding House Financial Assistance Program (BHFAP)
The BHFAP supporteds the boarding house industry with financial assistance for fire-safety upgrading. Boarding houses have been subject to SEPP 10 since its inception in 1985, and most of the measures to retain this form of accommodation have been incorporated in the new affordable rental housing SEPP.

Land tax exemptions for boarding house accommodation.

Development feasibility calculator for new boarding houses, including guidelines for usage. This tool from Housing NSW explores the economic feasibility of developing a boarding house. It is not the tool to calculate the financial viability of a boarding house under clause 50(2)(h) of the new SEPP.

Contact us

For more information please contact:
Information Centre
NSW Department of Planning
Ground floor, 23-33 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000
t. 1300 305 695 or 02 9228 6333
e. information@planning.nsw.gov.au