Inclusionary zoning
Inclusionary zoning is a land use planning intervention by government that either mandates or creates incentives so that a proportion of residential development includes a number of affordable housing dwellings.
Other planning mechanisms to increase affordable housing include planning concessions, density bonuses, and negotiated voluntary planning agreements. These, along with the development of local housing strategies, provide an opportunity for local governments, given their key role in assessing development and managing change and growth, to facilitate more social and affordable housing supply.
Mandatory inclusionary zoning is a lever that can increase supply of social and affordable housing for both ownership and rent. Inclusionary zoning works well when social housing and affordable housing is indistinguishable from other property in the development area.
South Australia legislated inclusionary zoning at a level of 15% in all new significant developments with a focus on affordable home ownership. Significant developments include government land, major developments and private developments that are bound by the development plan policy for affordable housing. The ACT has legislated it for both rental housing and home ownership.
In Western Australia inclusionary zoning is a policy position of the former Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and Landcorp, now Development WA, with 12-to 15% of their developments to include social and affordable housing. The ability to mandate for social and affordable housing means that new developments would already have a set level of stock under pre-sale. This can assist the developer by increasing the rate of pre-sales and make accessing finance quicker.
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