Affordable housing and State Facilitated Development are now articulated in legislation by specific criteria, opening up a new approvals pathway intended to address the housing crisis. The Planning and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2024 (Qld) (Regulation) came into effect on 22 July 2024. The commencement of the Regulation is the final step in the current suite of legislative changes geared towards improving Queensland’s planning framework’s response to housing supply challenges. 

State Facilitated Development

The Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Act 2024 (Qld) introduced the State Facilitated Development (SFD) as a new pathway to fast-track development applications for affordable housing. If a SFD designation is secured, applications will be assessed by the Chief Executive, not the relevant local government and the decision cannot be appealed to the Planning and Environment Court. 

The Regulation introduces critical components which will allow the SFD pathway to operate effectively, including:

  1. Inclusion of a specific criteria for ‘affordable housing component’, which requires that the component of development must include at least one of the following:
    • housing that is appropriate to the needs of households with low to moderate incomes, if the members of the households will spend no more than 30% of gross income on housing costs;
    • housing provided by a registered provider for residential use;
    • housing provided as part of a program, funded by any of the following entities, to support the provision of housing that is affordable:
      • a public sector entity under the Public Sector Act 2022, section 8;
      • a local government;
      • the State; or
      • the Commonwealth;
    • housing that is sold for an amount that is less than the first home concession limit due to the type, composition, method of construction, size or level of finish of the housing; and
    • housing that is rented at or below a value that is affordable for households with low to moderate incomes due to the type, composition, method of construction, size or level of finish of the housing. 
  2. Criteria for the new SFD pathway, which includes requirements to:
    • be predominantly residential;
    • deliver an affordable housing component that is at least 15% of dwellings resulting from the development;
    • provide a mix of dwelling types or diversity in the number of bedrooms contained in the dwellings; or
    • are either:
      • within a zone supporting residential development; or
      • not within an environmental or limited development zone, and the Minister is satisfied the premises can be readily serviced by infrastructure for the development.
  3. An assessment process for development applications progressing with the SFD pathway, including amendments to the Development Assessment Rules, which provide:
    • tailored public notification requirements for SFD applications, to distinguish from standard development applications, to identify to submitters that while they may make a submission they will not have appeal rights;
    • no referrals;
    • no appeal processes; and
    • reduced timeframes for assessing development applications (the decision period is 30 business days).
  4. Removal of fees for change applications associated with the SFD pathway.
  5. Amendments to the Environmental Offsets Regulation to allow for the conditioning of offsets for a development approval via the SFD process.
  6. A conditioning power has been provided for assessment managers, to ensure the provision of the affordable housing component on the premises the subject of the approval. This new conditioning power could potentially lock in housing/rental pricing providing additional certainty for developers. 
Key takeaways

The Regulation provides developers with greater clarity and certainty as to the benefits afforded under the SFD pathway, so that future affordable housing projects and initiatives can be implemented.

The SFD pathway also provides an alternative mechanism for community housing providers in delivering social and affordable housing projects on a mixed tenure basis, overcoming a limitation of the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation pathway that was introduced for social and affordable housing in 2022.

For more information, contact McCullough Robertson’s affordable housing specialists.