Some regional Australians may get a reprieve from the housing crisis as councils are offered interest relief to build more drains, roads, and other infrastructure.
Though many parts of regional Australia have ample residential land, it often isn't ready for development due to a lack of funding and planning for critical infrastructure, a 2024 national regional summit found.
From Wednesday, councils outside Sydney will be able to apply to have half the interest cost of loans for such infrastructure covered by the NSW government, helping them to deliver roads, parks and other population supports.
"Infrastructure unlocks housing, and this investment is about making sure regional NSW has the roads, water, sewerage and community facilities it needs to support housing growth," Planning Minister Paul Scully said.
"By backing councils to deliver these projects sooner and at a lower cost, we're helping to deliver more homes for people who want to live, work and stay in the regions."
Up to $20.9 million will be made available by the NSW government.
Previous low-cost loan initiatives have already helped support 60,000 homes and $262 million in local infrastructure projects in regional NSW.
While the federal National Housing Infrastructure Facility is often used to fund this kind of work, small local governments usually seek less than the minimum loan amount offered by the facility, the regional summit found.
The NSW government is also offering up to $3 million in grants to support local planning projects that improve affordability and enable new housing.
These generally range from $20,000 to $250,000 for work such as housing strategies and development control plans.
Though many acknowledge a need for infrastructure, it tends to have a "prohibitively high" per-dwelling cost, which is only worsened by skills and materials shortages, an August report from the Regional Australia Institute found.
Meanwhile, the population of regional Australia has grown even as new housing supply in these areas continues to decline.
The regions are still more affordable than Australia's capitals but the worsening dwelling price-to-income ratios are driving those from the cities into regional Australia and pushing up prices.
"We know housing supply is one of the biggest challenges facing regional communities," Regional NSW Minister Tara Moriarty said.
"By supporting councils to deliver enabling infrastructure sooner and at a lower cost, we're helping families, key workers and young people find a place to call home in the regions."
