The NSW resilient homes and land programs were not effectively planned, leading to major delays and increasing the risk of poor outcomes, the Audit Office says.

The buyback stream of the Resilient Homes Program will not meet its original funded target of 1300 voluntary purchases, and the Resilient Lands Program is yet to deliver space for housing.

“Key elements of planning were not undertaken for the programs prior to their commencement, which had a significant impact on their ongoing implementation and led to delays,” an Audit Office report says.

The NSW government launched the programs after record flooding hit the Northern Rivers region and other parts of the state in 2021 and 2022.

The $880 million Resilient Homes Program is funded with the federal government and the $100 million Resilient Lands Program by the state. Both are administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority.

The Audit Office says the homes program was estimated to support 1345 buybacks and 420 resilience measures, but in August last year the targets were changed to 1000 and 600 respectively.

The program had delivered 793 buybacks and 54 resilience measures as of March 31.

The land program, created to help people leaving flood-affected areas, aimed to deliver 4382 sites by early 2028. No lots or homes have yet been delivered.

While the land program aims to eventually deliver the housing identified at the program’s outset, it is not yet fulfilling its role, the Audit Office says in the May 20 report.

“Given the delays in the RLP, the program has not offset the reduction in housing created by the RHP buyback stream,” it says.

The Reconstruction Authority, with partner agencies, is responsible for the direct delivery of 612 of the homes or lots. The first ones are expected to be delivered by August.

Audit report recommendations include that the Reconstruction Authority identify and act on opportunities to accelerate the delivery of sites.

It proposes the authority work with councils to finalise and implement plans for each of the areas with significant numbers of buybacks and parcels of bought-back land isolated from other sites.

The authority should ensure readiness for future natural disasters by implementing resilience and adaptation programs, and plan for the timely implementation of recovery schemes, including meeting requirements for business cases and cost-benefit analyses.

The authority should publish evaluations and a cost-benefit analysis for the homes and land programs by March 2028, the Audit Office says.