Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy

Within these areas, the new Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy planning controls will apply to residential areas within 800 metres walking distance of 171 town centres and train stations across metropolitan Sydney, the Central Coast, Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Hunter regions. Promoting more housing within these areas aligns with the Housing Accord's commitment to delivering well-located housing. These low and mid-rise housing areas have a wide range of frequently needed goods and services, frequent public transport, and infrastructure. More information is provided in the summary of key provisions.

Low and mid-rise housing areas were selected using criteria developed from evidence and public feedback. The criteria included:

• Access to goods and services – supermarkets and a wide range of shops and services to meet daily needs.
• Public transport service – how often trains, light rail, metro and buses service the area.
• Travel times on public transport – time it takes to travel to a major centre.
• Critical infrastructure capacity – water, sewer, roads and public transport.
• Hazard and constraints – such as flood, bushfire and emergency evacuation.

View an indicative map of the low and mid-rise housing areas.

Read more about how the low and mid-rise housing areas were selected.

Extensive public consultation helped us develop and refine the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy. This included the public exhibition of the explanation of intended effect (EIE) in early 2024 and one-on-one engagement with 49 councils.

In response to the public exhibition held from 15 December 2023 to 23 February 2024, nearly 8,000 submissions were received.

The most common issues raised were traffic and congestion, the protection of local character and the environment, and the need for accompanying infrastructure and green spaces.

Feedback from the community, industry and councils helped us to make sure the final policy delivers outcomes the community expects.

Key updates to the policy include:

• excluding areas at high risk from flooding, bushfire or where it would be difficult to evacuate people in an emergency
• removing employment zones from the policy to support the ongoing role of centres as places for business and accessing services
• development standards, location selection and zone application.

Read more about the feedback received and the submission report.

There are some areas that have certain hazards or constraints that the policy does not apply to, including:

• land with a high risk from natural hazards like bushfire and floods
• land located close to dangerous goods pipelines and high aircraft noise
• land that contains a heritage item
• the Bathurst, Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Wollondilly local government areas due to bushfire, flooding and evacuation risks (Bathurst has no land suitable for the policy).

Learn more about the lands that are excluded from the policy at Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy exclusions.