1. What is affordable housing?

One widely accepted definition of affordable housing is housing that does not require more than 30% of a household's gross income in rental or mortgage commitments. See http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/Centre+For+Affordable+Housing/About+Affordable+Housing/. In NSW planning law it has a particular definition, namely, 'affordable housing means housing for very low income households, low income households or moderate income households, being such households as are prescribed by the regulations or as are provided for in an environmental planning instrument' (Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, section 4(1)). State Environmental Planning Policy no.70 -- Affordable Housing (Revised Schemes) refines this by indicating: ‘For the purposes of the definition of affordable housing in section 4(1) of the Act, very low income households, low income households and moderate income households are those whose gross incomes fall within the following ranges of percentages of the median household income for the time being for the Sydney Statistical Division according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: Very low income household less than 50%, Low income household 50 or more but less than 80%, Moderate income household 80–120%’.