Decision details

Moved by Councillor Ellsmore, seconded by Councillor Arkins -

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note:

(i)         in August 2026 the NSW Government released the Sydney Plan

(ii)        the Sydney Plan sets out how the NSW Government will manage the estimated population growth for Sydney over the next 20 years. It sets targets, requirements and guidance for future housing, infrastructure, jobs, green and community spaces, including requirements for local councils

(iii)      despite identifying affordability as a top priority, the Sydney Plan includes no targets or specific requirements for any of the future housing to be delivered to be affordable

(iv)      instead, the Sydney Plan includes reannouncements of existing social housing investment, and focuses on increasing supply through ‘fast tracked pathways’

(v)       the Sydney Plan includes a requirement for local councils to deliver an affordable housing contribution scheme, which would collect contributions from private development and put them towards affordable housing, but pushes back the timeline for this requirement to “after 2029”

(vi)      the City of Sydney remains one of a small number of local councils who have implemented an affordable housing contribution scheme. Council’s updated scheme is estimated to collect $2 billion in affordable housing levies over the next 10 years. The main threat to Council’s ability to deliver this affordable housing is the ‘fast tracked’ NSW Government pathways, which bypass most local council planning rules including mandatory inclusionary zoning value capture

(vii)     on affordability of housing, the Sydney Plan represents both a failure of leadership, and a threat to the genuine work to address affordability being undertaken by local councils such as the City of Sydney

(B)      the Lord Mayor be requested to write to the NSW Minister for Planning and the NSW Premier noting concerns about the lack of specific affordable housing targets in the Sydney Plan.

Carried unanimously.

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