Social & Affordable HousingVanessa CrollWed 13 May 26
Homes NSW Wins Nod For $110m Public Housing Rebuild
A post-war public housing estate in Sydney’s south-west will make way for a $110-million Homes NSW project under Belmore’s transport-linked housing controls.
Planning and public spaces minister Paul Scully approved the State Significant Development application for 270-278 Burwood Road and 54 Lakemba Street, about 350m from Belmore Station, an existing rail stop being converted for metro services, about 23km south-west of the Sydney CBD.
NSW Land and Housing Corporation, operating as Homes NSW, will replace the ageing walk-up estate with 145 affordable apartments across two eight-storey buildings above two basement levels.
The DKO Architects-designed scheme was approved under the state’s SSD pathway for Land and Housing Corporation projects with an estimated development cost above $30 million or more than 75 homes.
Seven one and two-storey red-brick walk-up buildings, containing 24 social housing apartments, will be demolished.
The new scheme will comprise 81 one, 50 twoand 14 three-bedroom apartments, along with 73 car spaces, 145 resident bicycle spaces and 15 visitor bicycle spaces.
Plans also include 1565sq m of communal open space and 1125sq m of deep soil. But the site’s public housing role runs deeper than the buildings now facing demolition.
Heritage material shows the land formed part of a 30-acre (27.5ha) grant to Edward Turner in 1836, before Belmore grew around the Sydenham-to-Bankstown railway.
The Burwood Road site was still vacant in a 1943 aerial imagery. By 1947, the Housing Commission had built the existing estate, with the-then housing minister Clive R Evatt laying a foundation stone on November 15 to mark the 42-home public housing project.
Almost 80 years later, the same government land is being recast for a denser affordable housing model as the state pushes more homes around rail and metro infrastructure.
The site is zoned R4 High Density Residential under the Canterbury-Bankstown Local Environmental Plan and sits within the Belmore Transport Oriented Development precinct.
Belmore was among the stations where standard TOD controls were deferred while Canterbury-Bankstown Council prepared an alternative plan for Belmore and Lakemba.
Those controls were finalised in February, with the state saying the council’s alternative scheme would unlock more than 18,000 homes near Belmore and Lakemba stations, where metro services are due in the second half of 2026.
Scully said at the time the finalisation of planning controls in each TOD area was “a major milestone which will ultimately put more keys in more doors”.
The scheme also uses the state’s in-fill affordable housing provisions, which allow extra height and floor space where at least 15 per cent affordable housing is provided.
The approved buildings will rise to 29.125m with a floor-space ratio of 2.61:1.
This sits below the 43m height and 3:1 floor-space controls flagged for the site under the alternate TOD plan.
But the project didn't deliver the broader precinct outcome sought by the council.
Planning documents said the site was identified in the council’s alternate TOD work as part of a larger amalgamated block, with a potential role in delivering new public open space and a through-site link to Cleary Avenue.
Homes NSW said amalgamation was not possible within funding timeframes and it did not own all land in the broader opportunity site.
It said substantial commencement was required by June 30, 2026, to maintain eligibility for committed Housing Australia funding.
The approved design instead allows for future through-site access along the southern boundary, publicly accessible landscaped areas on Burwood Road and Lakemba Street, and a central communal courtyard called the Gunyah Space.
The application attracted 56 submissions during assessment.
Issues raised included height, traffic, parking, social infrastructure, overshadowing and the concentration of subsidised housing.
Planning documents said the project responded to rising social housing demand in Canterbury-Bankstown, where smaller homes made up the largest share of waiting list demand.
Existing tenants will receive at least six months’ notice before relocation and will have the opportunity to return once the project is completed.
