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The proposal by the former NSW building commissioner David Chandler to help people priced out of the property market by building cheaper dwellings seems straightforward – but ideas that have large consequences are often simple.
Chandler envisages government-approved pattern book designs that use economies of scale to deliver newly built apartments priced at less than $1 million to help people on the cusp of owning a home. Chandler claims his model could reduce building costs by at least 20 per cent, noting developers normally needed to attract a $1.2 million sale price and generate profit margins of about 20 per cent.
Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis that shows no sign of abating. The big squeeze on renters and aspirational home buyers has driven politicians to tackle the supply-side causes of the nation’s home affordability crisis and falling homeownership, especially among younger people. However, in NSW, the Minns government has struggled to materially lift the delivery of housing supply, even though it has introduced many planning reforms.
Despite all the concessions governments had given developers, Chandler singled out the “absolute market failure” to address the missing middle apartment sector.
He said his solution to address the state’s housing crisis could build thousands of cheaper dwellings. “The crisis is so severe that you can’t park this under a bushel any longer. It’s time for some challenging ideas to surface,” Chandler said. “The first thing is acknowledging that the system is not delivering for the people who most need it … We’ve lost our way, where developers have always gone to a real estate agent or a marketing agency to say, ‘How will we get this project off the ground?’, [and they answer], ‘Well, it’s got to be bigger. It’s got to have marble bench tops’.”
Chandler was appointed the inaugural building commissioner to clean up the state’s building sector in 2019. The corruption watchdog has heard that Chandler so infuriated Jean Nassif – after his building empire collapsed owing $2 billion to creditors – that the now-fugitive property developer allegedly offered bribes as part of a campaign to have him dismissed.
Two years after resigning in 2024, Chandler has now put himself forward to head the delivery of his “intentionally disruptive” project – named MM3 – should the Minns government adopt it, saying the housing initiative required someone like him with a reputation for “getting stuff done”.
Chandler’s strategy targets delivery of 4000 new units by the third year of operation. A program office, within an existing government department, would facilitate their delivery. The proposal is designed to have a five to seven-year shelf life, providing a model for the private sector to replicate and take over from government.
For years, governments, ministers, planners and demographers have wrestled with how to undo decades of policy and inaction that have turned housing into a generator and store of wealth rather than what it should be: affordable, a basic human right, the bedrock of an equitable society and a safety net for our old age.
The housing crisis is such that all sensible ideas should be considered. The Minns government would do well to examine Chandler’s practical proposal to help unlock much-needed homes.
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