Plans for new Orange suburb to boost housing affordability

About 20 hectares of land adjacent to the town's eastern entrance has been earmarked for transformation with hundreds of free standing houses and apartments.

"This is the start of a ... fantastic project that will help many, many families," Mayor Jason Hamling said.

Orange City Council signed a 'memorandum of understanding' to develop the suburb alongside government housing corporation Landcom from the site Wednesday morning.

Plans are in the preliminary stages and subject to change, but could comprise construction of up to 230 residences. Between 46 and 69 would be affordable rentals under this model.

A specific definition for "affordable" was not provided, but council says it is confident new homes will be accessible for Orange's low- and middle-income families.

"The sort of customer might be a young nurse ... who can't afford or fund a rental. This is targeted at that demographic," CEO David Waddell said.

Construction could begin as soon as March, 2023. Plans for rezoning and services access will begin in coming weeks.

"It's a very good site ... It's got water and sewer services right nearby. It's on two major roads. It's flat ... We can get into this very quickly," Waddell said.

"This is an entrance site to the city. We'd like to see a pretty tasteful looking suburb with a mixture of housing ... small houses, big houses, and perhaps a couple of units."

Specifics for the deal are yet to be finalised. The land may be provided to Landcom free in return for a guarantee of 20 to 40 per cent affordable properties.

Consultation meetings with Landcom to devise a suburb masterplan are scheduled to begin immediately. Council says it expects a long term return on investment for ratepayers.

Orange-based building and planning businesses will be preferenced for construction contracts. Some land may be sold-off as vacant blocks.

Access to affordable housing consistently ranks among the most pressing concerns of Orange residents. Waitlists for social housing can exceed 10 years.

Councillor David Mallard has pushed for action on housing affordability for some time. He told the Central Western Daily:

"I'm very happy council is doing this ... [Housing is] one of the major crisis affecting people. It's been clear for some time but it's just continued to bite worse and worse.

"From here, I want to focus on making sure we get the best outcome out of it that we can. This sort of housing is going to provide opportunity ... but we're going to need to do more."

Mayor Jason Hamling, council CEO David Waddell, and Landcom CEO Alexander Wendler announced the project from the Redmond Place site about 11am.

Councillors Jack Evans, Mel McDonall, Tony Mileto, Frances Kinghorne, and David Mallard were also present.

In December, 2022 the state government announced a $1.1 billion dollar program to develop social housing in regional areas including Orange.

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