The planning system is an important lever in addressing the housing crisis and meeting Housing Accord targets. NSW has an ambitious target to deliver 377,000 new homes over five years by July 2029 under the National Housing Accord.
We need an additional 25,000 new homes to be constructed each year in NSW to achieve this target. To accelerate the Government’s work and help us to meet our housing targets the NSW Government has established a housing taskforce to streamline planning processes, cut red tape, and speed up complex housing assessments across NSW.
Our role
The NSW Housing Taskforce is focused on making sure housing moves quickly and smoothly through the planning system by:
- coordinating State agency advice and approvals
- identifying and working to resolve post-consent delays to housing construction and completion
- identifying broader system improvements to support housing approvals and completions.
Its aim is to make sure state agencies' interactions with the planning system are efficient and effective. This includes managing agency advice and approvals (integrated development, concurrences and referrals) and resolving post-consent requirements to help new home construction start sooner.
Streamlining planning
Recognising the need for a more efficient process, the NSW Government has reorganised state agency staff and resources to create the Housing Taskforce. This team is made up of staff from:
- Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI)
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment & Water (DCCEEW)
- Heritage
- Biodiversity, Conservation and Science
- Water
- Environment Protection Authority (EPA)
- WaterNSW
- Transport for NSW
- Rural Fire Service
- Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) – Fisheries
- Building Commission NSW
- NSW State Emergency Service
- Homes NSW
- Sydney Water.
This team ensures that all agencies involved in providing advice and approvals work together seamlessly and swiftly to minimise unnecessary delays and to ultimately deliver more homes sooner.
Real results
Since its inception in August 2024, the Housing Taskforce has been instrumental in fast-tracking development applications that require agency advice or approval. In its first 3 months, this collaborative, whole-of-government effort facilitated the progress of applications for over 11,000 new homes and worked with agencies to progress a range of cases:
Greater Newcastle
The Housing Taskforce expedited the approval of a housing development that had been pending for 865 days, resolving the case within a week by collaborating with Heritage NSW.
Sydney CBD
By working with Sydney Metro, the Housing Taskforce secured the necessary approvals for a residential building, preventing delays in construction.
Upper Hunter Region
The Housing Taskforce worked closely with Heritage NSW and the applicant to ensure statutory timeframes were met for a large housing development.
Frequently asked questions
The Housing Taskforce is bringing an urgent and whole of Government approach to the delivery of more homes in NSW.
The Housing Taskforce’s immediate focus areas are existing and new development applications (DAs) for housing that are submitted to councils.
This includes DAs that have already been given but where construction has not commenced due to unworkable consent conditions or delays in agency post approval matters.
The Housing Taskforce also has a role in accelerating the assessment of housing DAs that are already in the system.
The Housing Taskforce gets involved when a state government agency needs to review or give their approval for a DA. If 2 or more NSW Government Departments need to give their input on a DA, the Housing Taskforce helps them collaborate quickly and effectively to ensure all necessary considerations are addressed, allowing the DA to proceed.
Since starting in August 2024, the Housing Taskforce has been piloting efforts to speed up development applications that need agency advice or approval. This coordinated approach has helped move forward applications for over 11,000 homes in its first 3 months.
The Housing Taskforce is monitoring all housing applications that require agency advice or approvals. We are working with agencies at a system level to help housing applications move through the system smoothly.
As the Housing Taskforce is not operating a concierge or case management service, we are not calling for applicants to apply for assistance at this stage.
When assessing development applications for new homes, Councils must consider a range of issues, including traffic, bushfires, flooding, biodiversity, water, heritage, pollution, and safety. These considerations often require advice or approval from multiple State agencies before a council can finalise a DA.
In FY 23–24, 9,772 applications, valued at over $22 billion, required advice or approvals from a Government agency. Over 1,900 of those development applications needed advice from more than one agency
No. The Housing Taskforce is not the consent authority for Development Applications.
No.
The Housing Taskforce is not responsible for determining development applications or issuing agency advice or approvals.
The Housing Taskforce brings together all the agencies that have touchpoints and responsibilities for housing delivery.
The role of the Housing Taskforce is to support state agencies to provide prompt assessment of advice or approvals required in connection with housing Development Applications.
The NSW Government has established a new Housing Taskforce within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure that is charged with maximising housing completions to 2027.
As with the HDA, the NSW Government has established a new Housing Taskforce, a multi-agency group within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure that is charged with maximising housing completions to 2027.
The role of the Taskforce is to drive urgent whole of government action to:
- Expedite the determination of housing development applications with a focus on making sure state referral advice and approvals for housing projects (under the local development pathway) are prompt, timely and coordinated.
- Address impediments to post consent requirements to deliver housing completions, covering consents issued under local and state significant development pathways.
As a multi-agency and co-located group, the Taskforce has planners from the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure work alongside their colleagues from:
- Transport for NSW
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (water, heritage, biodiversity)
- Rural Fire Service
- Building Commissioner
- Homes NSW
- And from other agencies, including: Sydney Water, Water NSW, Rural Fire Service, SES, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Fisheries) and Environment Protection Agency.
More information
If you have any questions about the Housing Taskforce, email [email protected]