Key information
- Status: Open
- Grant amount: From $1,000,000 to $3,000,000
- Application opened: 29 September 2026
- Application closes: 10 November 2026, 11:00 pm
Program objective
Round Two of the Faster Assessments Incentive Program provides grant funding to the 53 eligible councils that have reduced and maintained low average development assessment times in financial year 2025-26 in line with the Statement of Expectations Order and their performance against their own benchmark for the financial year. The purpose of funding is to support infrastructure that accelerates housing delivery in high and medium growth areas.
Eligible councils are those with housing targets (published in May 2024) above 1,000 dwellings. Implied dwelling demand for the Housing Accord period is used for councils that have not been provided with an LGA-specific housing target.
Round Two focuses on two aspects of improvement: (1) improvement against each council's individual target for the 2025-26 financial year (measured as a percentage), and (2) absolute improvement in the financial year compared with the previous financial year (measured as the number of days improved). Eligible councils are invited to apply for funding for one project in line with the Program Guidelines.
This program is administered by Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
Eligibility
Who can apply
Round two is available to the 53 metropolitan and regional NSW councils with housing targets above 1,000 dwellings that meet the Program average assessment timeframe requirements. Implied dwelling demand for the Housing Accord period is used for councils in Regional NSW that have not been provided an LGA-specific housing target.
Location that are eligible include Albury City, Ballina, Bathurst Regional, Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Camden, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Cessnock, City of Parramatta, Coffs Harbour, Cumberland, Dubbo Regional, Eurobodalla, Fairfield, Georges River, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Inner West, Ku-Ring-Gai, Lake Macquarie, Lane Cove, Liverpool, Maitland, Mid-Coast, Newcastle, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Orange, Penrith, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional, Randwick, Ryde, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Strathfield, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Tamworth Regional, The Hills Shire, Tweed, Wagga Wagga, Waverley, Willoughby, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, Wollongong, Woollahra
Types of projects funded under this grant
Eligible projects must be a single, council-nominated infrastructure project located within the LGA, preferably in key housing-growth areas, and able to be completed by 30 June 2030. Projects must enable or support new housing and fall within the council’s funding cap. Co-contributions are welcome but not required. Land acquisition, planning and design or business-case activities are only eligible where councils can demonstrate full project delivery by the deadline, and operational or already-funded costs are not permitted.
When the project can start and end
The project must be completed by 30 June 2030.
What your application needs to include
Prepare your application with this checklist
- Project location and extent (in GIS format).
- Project geographic catchment (in GIS format):estimated area where existing and future dwellings will benefit from access to the new infrastructure. Catchment methods may include distance-based buffer zones, isochrone (an area based on travel time to access the infrastructure), or an established boundary for a precinct or district.
- Number of existing homes in the project’s service catchment (as of 30 June 2026).
- Number of new homes expected to be delivered in the project’s service catchment (after 1 July 2026).
- Strategic justification for the project with reference to existing strategic planning documents such as regional and district plans, local strategic planning statements or other documents prepared by council.
- Evidence the project is ready to commence but unfunded or needs top-up funding to proceed to the next stage, including a declaration of secured funding from other funding sources.
- Documents to support project deliverability including funding strategy, cost estimates, planning and other approvals obtained (if relevant), project schedule and timeline, milestone tracking, feasibility report, contractor and procurement plans.
- Risks and dependencies identified and addressed including bushfire, flooding, site contamination and other environmental risks, delays, approvals and consent timelines, and evidence of contingency planning.
- Landowner consent secured (if applicable).
- Optional: information on other merits of the project, including climate and natural disaster resilience merits to support the strategic merit review.
Address the eligibility criteria
Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria.
Applicants that do not address the eligibility criteria in full may be excluded from the application process at the department's discretion.
Start the application
After successful councils are identified they will be notified and invited to nominate a maximum of one project for funding via SmartyGrants. A link to the SmartyGrants portal will be provided to the successful councils, together with guidance and resources on how to make a nomination. Councils will be given up to 6 weeks to nominate their project via the SmartyGrants platform.
Note: If you are a new applicant to SmartyGrants, you will need to register and create a password. If you are already registered, you can log in with your existing username and password.
Apply now
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: Minister for Planning and Public Spaces
All nominations will need to gothrough an eligibility review, those that meet the eligibility criteria will progress to the assurance process, which includes a strategic and a technical assessment. The data provided by councils via SmartyGrants will be used to undertake the strategic and technical assessments.
- Strategic assessment: The strategic assessment will determine the strategic merit and servicing of new homes by the nominated projects. The Department will complete this assessment.
- Technical assessment: The technical assessment will determine the projects’ deliverability, including technical soundness, and demonstration that the project can be completed within the Housing Accord Period by 30 June 2030. An independent technical consultant will complete this assessment.
Support and contact
Department of Planning Housing Infrastructure
faip@dphi.nsw.gov.au
https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/housing/faster-assessments-program/faster-assessments-incentive-program