In-fill affordable housing provides opportunities for the delivery of new affordable housing in well-located areas to meet the needs of a wide range of households on very low to moderate incomes.
The in-fill affordable housing provisions were transferred from State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing) 2009 to the Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) when it was made in November 2021.
On 14 December 2023 the NSW Government implemented in-fill affordable housing reforms to encourage private developers to boost affordable housing and deliver more market housing. The reforms include:
- A floor space ratio bonus of 20–30% and a height bonus of 20–30% for projects that include at least 10-15% of gross floor area as affordable housing. The height bonus only applies to residential flat building and shop-top housing. The floor space ratio and height bonuses are proportional to the affordable housing component.
- The former in-fill affordable housing bonuses are still available for development by Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC), the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO), Landcom and registered Community Housing Providers (CHPs) on land with a maximum permissible floor space ratio of 2:1 or less. These agencies and community housing providers are now able to apply the more generous of the two formulae for calculating the floor space ratio bonus under sections 16 or 17 of the Housing State Environmental Planning Policy.
- The accessible area definition has been amended to increase the walking distance from a light rail station from 400 m to 800 m and include metro stations.
The in-fill affordable housing provisions:
- apply to land in:
- the Greater Sydney, Lower Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra-Shoalhaven regions (with the exception of the Shoalhaven LGA and the Port Stephens LGA) within an accessible area
- other areas within 800 m walking distance of land zoned E1 Local Centre, MU1 Mixed Use, B1 Neighbourhood Centre, B2 Local Centre or B4 Mixed Use.
- require a minimum of 10% of the development to be used for affordable housing, with the provisions encouraging the delivery of 15%
- include built form bonuses to encourage the development of affordable housing
- requires the affordable housing portion of the development to remain affordable and be managed by a registered community housing provider for a minimum of 15 years
- include non-discretionary development standards for lot size, dwelling sizes, deep soil zones, car parking and others
- require the consent authority to consider the character of the local area or the desired future character for areas under transition.
View the in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP.
The Department has prepared a practice note (PDF, 385 KB) and a planning circular (PDF, 164 KB) to guide consent authorities and applicants on the application of the in-fill affordable housing floor space ratio and height bonuses.
Amendments
The NSW Government amended the State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021 on 2 August 2024 to temporarily expand the pathway for in-fill affordable housing State significant development. The expanded pathway relates to an application for alterations and additions to an existing development. It enables the estimated development costs for the existing consent and the new works to be combined to meet the State significant development threshold. The temporary in-fill affordable housing State significant development category will operate for 12 months and be limited to projects where the original consent has been issued after 14 December 2021.
The following qualifications apply:
- The combined estimated development cost (EDC) amount relates to the residential component only.
- A dwelling number threshold to access this policy is set at a minimum 40 additional dwellings in the Sydney region and minimum 20 additional dwellings on other land.
- The development application does not involve development that is prohibited under another environmental planning instrument.
Faster State significant development assessments for in-fill affordable housing
The Department is working to speed up the assessment of in-fill affordable housing applications lodged under the State significant development pathway. The aim is to complete assessments within an average of 275 days from the time an application is lodged to when a determination is made or referred to the Independent Planning Commission or Minister for Planning.
The Guide to Faster Assessments for State significant development Housing Applications outlines how the department will work with applicants to speed up the assessment of housing applications lodged under State significant development pathways.
First released in December 2023, the guide only applied to the in-fill affordable housing State significant development pathway. It was updated in August 2024 to include applications lodged by certain public authorities under section 26 of the Planning System State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP). In August 2025, it was expanded to include additional State significant development housing pathways.
Visit Faster assessments for State significant development housing applications to learn more.
Faster State significant development assessments are supported by dedicated housing assessment teams, industry-specific Secretary's environmental assessment requirements, and, in most cases, a mandatory scoping meeting.
If you need to arrange an early scoping or a scoping meeting for in-fill affordable housing, please email [email protected]
Applicants can find out more in the following documents:
Frequently asked questions
Affordable housing must be provided to eligible households by a registered community housing provider.
SSD applicants for affordable housing are required to undertake a scoping meeting with the Department prior to requesting SEARs.
Amendments made on 14 December 2023 implemented reforms to the in-fill affordable housing provisions, including changes to floor space ratio bonus, introduction of a building height bonus and changes to the required affordable housing component.
Further refinements to implement these reforms were made on 2 August 2024, including:
- Updates to the Planning Systems SEPP to expand on the opportunities for SSD.
- Updates to section 15C of the Housing SEPP, so that land within the Port Stephens local government area (LGA) is subject to the walking distance criteria to a relevant business zone when determining if the in-fill affordable housing provisions apply to land.
An amendment made on 1 July 2022 expands the area where in-fill affordable housing bonuses apply from 400 m to 800 m from business and mixed-use zones in Regional NSW.
The in-fill affordable housing floorspace bonus now also applies to shop-top housing.
Further amendments were made on 14 February 2025 to uphold the original policy intent of the in-fill affordable housing provisions. Developments seeking in-fill affordable housing bonuses can only use a local bonus if it meets relevant LEP provisions. The bonuses, unless otherwise specified, do not override or remove the requirement to comply with any land and development controls that apply. No other amendments were made
More information
For more information, email [email protected] or phone 02 8289 6700.