The NSW Government has announced the first sites for a trial of modular social housing.

Sites in Wollongong in the NSW Illawara Region, and Lake Macquarie in the Hunter, have been identified as suitable for the state’s first modular social homes following a comprehensive assessment, the state government says.

NSW is investing $10 million to explore and trial the use of modular housing to deliver social homes as the state grapples with an affordable housing crisis.

Three sites in Wollongong will host three modular social homes, while five will be built across four sites in Lake Macquarie.

A procurement process for the delivery of the homes has begun, with completion expected by early 2025.

It’s estimated that modular homes can be delivered 20 per cent faster than traditional methods, and the government hopes modular housing will provide a cost effective and time efficient alternative to traditional building methods, which means homes can be brought online faster.

As reported by Government News, the state government last year formed the cross-industry Modular Housing Taskforce, with participation from LGNSW, to provide advice to the government on how modular housing can help speed up the delivery of homes.

Housing minister Rose Jackson said the announcement marks a significant milestone in the government’s Modular Housing Taskforce Plan.

“These initial sites are a crucial first step towards revolutionising public housing delivery and we anticipate this demonstration project will pave the way for more of these innovative homes to be rolled out in the future,” she said.

“Amid a severe housing crisis, we need to look at every option we must to everything we can to get a roof over people’s heads sooner. Leveraging modern construction methods will help us provide sustainable, quality housing faster for the people that need it most.”

Regulatory barriers

Modular housing has not previously been used at scale in NSW and the government says it’s working through a number of regulatory barriers to the widespread rollout of modular housing, including uniform standards for manufactured homes constructed offsite.

The NSW Government will continue to work with the Taskforce and councils as it looks to expand the Modular Housing Program across the state , Premier Chris Minns says.

“Housing affordability and availability is the single biggest pressure facing the people of New South Wales,” Mr Minns said.

“We are pulling every lever we can to tackle the housing crisis, and today is an important milestone in our work to utilise nontraditional methods of delivering more homes, sooner rather than later.”

The government committed to building 8,400 new public homes in this year’s state budget.

Sydney housing remains unaffordable

It comes as new research published in the journal Cities suggests Sydney’s housing market will remain unaffordable until at least the 2030s.

The research, by Dr Mustapha Bangura from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and UNSW’s Professor Chyi Lin Lee, found there is nowhere in Greater Sydney where someone on the state’s median part-time or full-time income can afford to buy a property without existing wealth or significant cash gifts from family.

The research forecasts that without interventions to improve housing affordability there will still be nowhere in Sydney where a median part-time or full-time income alone can afford to buy a home until at least 2031.

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