NSW Flood Recovery Programs Miss All Housing Targets, Audit Reveals
As of March 31, 2025, neither the $880 million Resilient Homes program nor the $100 million Resilient Lands program had delivered any of the 4,382 promised homes or housing lots.
The Failure to Deliver
The programs were established in October 2022 in response to the February 2022 floods in northern NSW, which left 4,055 properties uninhabitable and damaged 10,849 others.
The NSW Auditor-General found that the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) had not effectively planned or administered either program. No business case or cost-benefit analysis was conducted before their launch.
Program Origins and Revisions
- The Resilient Homes program initially promised 6,000 homes eligible for buy-back, raising, or retrofitting. This was reduced to 2,000 by June 2023.
- Buy-back targets were revised multiple times: to 1,345 houses in December 2024, then to 1,000 in August 2025.
- As of March 31, 2025, only 793 buy-backs had been finalized.
Implementation Delays
The first payments for home raising or retrofitting were made 21 months after the February 2022 floods.
Delays were attributed to unresolved procedures (e.g., home relocations) and changes in how homeowners could access funding. The Auditor-General stated that the RA's ability to deliver land within the anticipated five-year period was "at risk."
Land Use and Future Planning
The report found that the RA and its predecessor did not plan for land left vacant by buy-backs beyond rezoning to prevent future residential use.
The Auditor-General recommended the RA accelerate site delivery for flood-affected residents by September 2025, and finalize plans for vacant land by June 2026.
Response from NSW Reconstruction Authority
CEO Kate Fitzgerald acknowledged the findings, stating that "planning and governance were insufficient before the programs commenced."
She noted that both programs were established during an unprecedented disaster recovery effort, which limited up-front planning. The RA accepted the recommendations and said it is acting on them.
Context
The 2022 floods caused extensive damage across northern NSW, prompting a large-scale disaster response.
Critics have compared the pace of NSW recovery with Queensland, which announced its own Resilient Homes Fund in May 2022—seven months before NSW launched its program.