Taking action to deliver more affordable homes

The South Australian Government is taking action to boost the amount of affordable housing delivered as part of new residential developments.

Work is underway to improve planning rules and incentives to create more affordable homes for South Australians.

Investigations to update the planning system’s ‘Affordable Housing Overlay’, which outlines where and how affordable housing is delivered as part of new residential developments, include:

• extending the Affordable Housing Overlay to include all Greater Adelaide residential areas
• reviewing the threshold for applying affordable housing criteria, which is currently set to developments of at least 20 residential allotments or homes
• reviewing incentives to encourage more affordable homes as part of new developments.

The Affordable Housing Overlay currently only applies to approximately 55 per cent of residential areas within the Greater Adelaide Region.

Affordable housing is accommodation for low to moderate income households. The affordable housing price point is $495,000 for a dwelling in Adelaide, or $222,750 for land only.

The South Australian Government’s HomeSeeker website has information on buying or renting an affordable property and lists properties available to eligible South Australians.

Delivering more affordable housing is a government priority to help low to moderate income households and vulnerable members of the community.

This work is an important initiative from the South Australian Government’s Housing Roadmap.

The Affordable Housing Overlay Code Amendment has been initiated and will be open for public feedback next year.

These improvements to the planning system also deliver on the recommendation from the Expert Panel for the Planning System Implementation Review to expand the Affordable Housing Overlay.