As we roll into 2024, life is getting back into its daily and weekly patterns, and people are once again looking for an update from the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) about the Resilient Homes and Resilient Land Programs.

The last numbers were from December 8 2023 when 682 Buyback Offers were approved with 475 accepted. As of 12 January 2024, 694 buyback offers had been approved and 500 buyback offers accepted. This was of 1094 that were prioritised in 2023.

As we know, the Resilient Homes Program is the largest program of its kind in Australia. Yes, it was scaled down from its lofty $1.5 billion initial heights in 2022 but a spokesperson from the NSWRA said, "Buybacks are prioritised based on homes that are at the greatest risk to life under most flood scenarios."

"Homeowners can request an internal review or an appeal if they are dissatisfied with their decision under the Resilient Homes Program."

"Both an internal review or appeal process can result in either the authority's original Resilient Homes Program decision being upheld, or the decision being changed."

"So far there have been over 200 appeals lodged and these are assessed by an independent panel."

If you feel you would like a review of your flooded property under one of the three funding streams, that is House Buyback, House Raisings and House Retrofits, or you wish to make an appeal click here.

As for the long-awaited Resilient Land Program, the spokesperson said, "The NSW Reconstruction Authority is finalising proposals for the first housing opportunities under the $100m Resilient Land Program."

"The NSW Reconstruction Authority is delivering the Resilient Lands and Homes Programs in parallel, as is our commitment to long-term recovery on the Northern Rivers."

While we are forced to wait patiently for progress on Homes and Lands the residents of NSW will also need to be patient for the state government's new planning reforms that were introduced in December last year.

The NSW Labor Government has been clear that while building 75,000 new homes off a base of only 48,000 completions in 2022 will be a big challenge, the goal is to meet the state's 377,000 housing goal over the 5 years of the accord.

The NSW Government is determined to meet the state’s housing goals under the 5-year housing accord, and it’s the major announcements that the government made only weeks ago that will help get us there.

These reforms include: 

• Changes to low to mid-rise housing – with the aim to increase capacity for an additional 110,000 homes in well-serviced areas by the end of 2029. A policy Planning Minister Stokes tried to introduce in 2018 that was not supported by his own party.
• Infrastructure contributions reforms – a program designed to ensure supporting infrastructure is aligned to housing delivery, so we don’t end up with suburbs having no schools or sewage systems to support growing communities.
• The Transport Oriented Development (TOD) program, the first of which will deliver state-led rezonings within 1,200 metres of 8 priority transport hubs. The second will deliver a new SEPP to increase the capacity for more mid-rise housing and mixed-use development within 400 metres of 31 other well-located transport hubs and town centres.
• More affordable housing – the introduction of a new bonus Floor Space Ratio (FSR) of up to 30 per cent and a height bonus of up to 30 per cent where a proposal includes a minimum of 15 per cent of the gross floor area (GFA) as affordable housing.
• Transparency – we've committed to publishing performance tables to identify best-performing councils and to show the performance of government approval processes as well.