Home / Disasters and Accidents / NSW Flood Scheme Fails: $100M Delivers Zero Homes
NSW Flood Scheme Fails: $100M Delivers Zero Homes
25 May
Summary
- A $100m NSW flood recovery scheme has not delivered any homes or lots.
- The auditor general's report found poor planning caused significant delays.
- Affected residents had to fund their own housing solutions.
A significant failure in New South Wales' flood recovery efforts has been exposed, with the $100 million Resilient Lands Program (RLP) failing to provide a single home or lot more than three years after its inception. Launched in October 2022 to assist residents devastated by the 2022 floods, the program, alongside the $880 million Resilient Homes Program (RHP), has been criticized for poor planning.
The NSW auditor general's recent report highlights these deficiencies, recommending immediate acceleration of RLP site deliveries by September. Residents like Liam Bolitho and Rachel Rouse, whose homes were deemed uninhabitable, have independently funded their relocations due to the extensive delays. Many have secured their own land, utilizing personal funds and loans.
Of the 4,000 properties impacted, the RHP has managed 793 buybacks and 54 resilient measures, with approximately $581.5 million of the allocated funding utilized. The RLP's strategy, initially unreleased, now indicates nine of its twelve identified sites are scheduled for completion between late 2026 and 2028, with resident lot offers planned for mid-2026.
