By Aaron Gadiel, Partner

The NSW Government has made a further round of changes to the state-level planning controls for housing.

The amendments were published on Friday 24 April 2026 in the misleadingly named State Environmental Planning Policy Amendment (Punchbowl and Wiley Park Transport Oriented Development Precinct) 2026.

Despite this name, (among other things) this instrument amended the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (the Housing SEPP).  These changes have statewide implications.

The changes, in part, relate to low and mid rise housing areas and transport oriented development areas.

For background information on:

• low and mid rise housing areas — you can read our Mills Oakley article of March 2025; and
• transport oriented development areas — you can read our Mills Oakley article of May 2024.

This article is written from the perspective of property developers and their consultants.  It is summary only and is not a replacement for legal advice.

Car parking for infill affordable housing developments

Until 24 April 2026, only a ‘non-discretionary’ development standard was set by the Housing SEPP for car parking on affordable housing developments.

Under the prescribed formula, a consent authority was precluded from refusing development consent on the quantum of car parking provision, provided that the following formula was applied.

For parking spaces for dwellings used for affordable housing:

• for each dwelling containing 1 bedroom — at least 0.4 parking spaces;
• for each dwelling containing 2 bedrooms — at least 0.5 parking spaces; and
• for each dwelling containing at least 3 bedrooms — at least 1 parking space.

For parking spaces for dwellings not used for affordable housing:

• for each dwelling containing 1 bedroom — at least 0.5 parking spaces;
• for each dwelling containing 2 bedrooms — at least 1 parking space; and
• for each dwelling containing at least 3 bedrooms — at least 1.5 parking spaces.

It has been traditionally understood that a developer did not need to comply with these standards, but if a developer did choose to comply with these standards, the discretion of the consent authority is limited on the subject matter.  (This has recently been called into question by a decision in Patchy Properties Pty Ltd v Randwick City Council [2026] NSWLEC 1190 at [99]-[105].  However, we expect that the status of these provisions will be clarified when some specific amendments approved by parliament in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 commence later this year.)

The NSW Government has now deleted the above car parking formula as a non-discretionary development standard — and has instead inserted it as a conventional development standard.

This means that a development consent now cannot be granted unless the above car parking minimums are met in a development that includes state infill affordable housing (unless a clause 4.6 request is submitted and is upheld).

There is also a new requirement for a consent authority to consider the Guide to Transport Impact Assessment published by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) on 4 November 2024.  This document contains a range of technical guidance on matters such as:

• undertaking a transport impact assessment;
• travel demand management;
• land use trip generation;
• multi-modal network impacts;
• site design and access; and
• parking provision and design.

However, we do not consider that the Guide to Transport Impact Assessment provides a basis for a consent authority to require additional parking above the minimums set out above.  This is because the guide only specifies TfNSW ‘reference rates’ and says that these reference rates can be used if no prevailing requirements are available in environmental planning instruments.

Green light for seniors housing in the low and mid rise housing areas

The NSW Government has now made it crystal clear that certain seniors housing development can generally take advantage of state-level height and floor space ratio provisions in the low and mid rise housing areas. This includes independent living units, residential care facilities and hostels. (Previously provisions only applied to dwellings — which could include independent living units, but not residential care facilities or hostels. Even that inclusion was debated by some.)

There are new explicit non-discretionary development standards in zones ‘R3 Medium Density Residential’ (R3) and ‘R4 High Density Residential’ (R4) in the low and mid rise housing inner areas for independent living units, hostels and residential care facilities as follows:

• a maximum floor space ratio of 2.2:1;
• a maximum building height of 24 metres (for a building containing commercial premises or health services facilities on the ground floor) or 22 metres (for other buildings).

There are also new non-discretionary development standards in zones R3 and R4 in the low and mid rise housing outer areas for independent living units, hostels and residential care facilities as follows:

• a maximum floor space ratio of 1.5:1;
• a maximum building height of 17.5 metres.

A new maximum floor space ratio of 0.8:1 has been introduced for independent living units as a non-discretionary development standard in zones ‘R1 General Residential’ and ‘R2 Low Density Residential’ in the low and mid rise housing areas.

The pre-existing conflicting non-discretionary development standards have been disapplied from the low and mid rise housing areas.

Seniors housing and the Tree Canopy Guide

There is a new provision regulating the grant of development consent for seniors housing development in any part of a low and mid rise housing area that is in zones R3 and R4.

The new provision says that the consent authority must consider the Tree Canopy Guide for Low and Mid Rise Housing, published by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure in February 2025.

Seniors housing height

Until 24 April 2026, for development on land in a residential zone where residential flat buildings are not permitted:

• the development of seniors housing must not result in a building with a height of more than 9.5m, excluding servicing equipment on the roof of the building;
• if the roof of the building contains servicing equipment resulting in the building having a height of more than 9.5m, the servicing equipment must comply with certain measures and not result in the building having a height of more than 11.5m;
• if the development results in a building with more than 2 storeys — the additional storeys are set back within planes that project at an angle of 45 degrees inwards from all side and rear boundaries of the site.

This provision no longer applies to the extent a provision of a chapter of the Housing SEPP (other than Chapter 3) or another environmental planning instrument (such as a local environmental plan) permits a greater maximum building height for seniors housing on the land.

Seniors housing in transport oriented development areas

In a transport orientated development area, the maximum height for a building that contained an independent living unit was already 24 metres (when it is just 22 metres for a residential flat building).  This has now been extended to include all types of seniors housing development.

Changes to the application of low and mid rise housing areas in flood prone areas

The NSW Government has made changes to the application of low and mid rise housing areas in certain floor prone areas.

Until 24 April 2026, all flood prone land in:

• the Georges River Catchment; and
• the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment,

was excluded from the low and mid rise housing areas.

However, this exclusion appears to have been narrowed.

The exclusion for the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment is now limited to land identified as ‘Probable Maximum Flood’ in Figure 1-1 of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Flood Study—Flood Study Report, dated May 2024 and published on the NSW Flood Data Portal on 20 June 2024.

This designation means that land that is only identified as ‘1 in 100 chance per year flood’ on that figure is not excluded from a low and mid rise housing area (by reason of flood risk).

The exclusion for the Georges River Catchment is now limited to land that is susceptible to flooding by the probable maximum flood and in one of the following local government areas:

• Canterbury-Bankstown;
• Cumberland;
• City of Fairfield;
• Georges River;
• City of Liverpool; and
• Sutherland Shire.

The same changes have been made in relation to the exclusion of land from the pattern book development scheme.

Transitional arrangements

These changes outlined in this article do not apply to development applications that were made prior to 24 April 2026.  (A development application that has only been submitted (but not yet ‘lodged’) has not been ‘made’.)

Bottom line

These changes are mixed.  They are good news for the developers of seniors housing.

The new rules for car parking for affordable housing developments may limit flexibility for developers.  Some developers may find it more difficult to provide less or no car parking in areas highly serviced by public transport.