Unlocking Rural Housing

 On 3 November 2025, the Select Committee on Rural Housing and Second Dwellings Reform in the New South Wales Legislative Council began public hearings to examine how rural-zoned land in NSW might accommodate more housing — specifically, second dwellings.

This inquiry touches on multiple pressures: housing affordability, regional population retention, multigenerational living, workforce housing for agriculture, and how to balance these with preserving rural character, productive land, and infrastructure.

What is the inquiry about?

The Committee has detailed Terms of Reference that guide what it must investigate. Some of the key areas include:

Reforming planning instruments and development controls to make it easier to build second dwellings in rural zones

Considering amendments to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, and related instruments, to create more streamlined approval pathways for second dwellings on rural-zoned land.

Examining how these reforms would interact with local environmental plans (LEP’s), Section 3.28 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, elevation/flood hazard criteria, and other land-based constraints.

Looking at whether size, attachment and internal lot distance restrictions should be removed (or modified) to enable second dwellings to be larger or more detached from the principal dwelling.

Considering the impact on rural productivity: how second dwellings might affect rural activities, land fragmentation/subdivision, infrastructure adequacy, multigenerational living, affordability and rural population growth.

https://allenprice.com.au/blog/unlocking-rural-housing/

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