The affordable housing dwelling scheme, operated by government agency Housing Plus, will allow Bathurst residents who have been in full-time employment for at least 12 months to move into one of 11 new units or houses.

A further 21 dwellings will be built in Orange and 21 in Mudgee, with all of them to be constructed by Wilson Homes.

Housing Plus chief executive officer Karen Andrew said the scheme is  aimed to help people with low-to-moderate incomes eventually save to buy their own property, with people able to take advantage of the cheap rent for up to 10 years.

Mrs Andrew expected the affordable housing scheme to appeal to people such as firefighters, health care workers or retail workers.

“It’s a really exciting development and we’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen,” Mrs Andrew said. “It will mean people will be able to access affordable housing, which we haven’t had in our communities before.”

Mrs Andrew said the influx of affordable housing would also free up social housing in the cities.

She said Housing Plus was looking at parcels of land in Orange and Bathurst, and had not ruled out purchasing house and land packages.

Mrs Andrew said the initiative was made possible after NSW Land and Housing gave Housing Plus the title deeds to 288 of its properties, from which Housing Plus could leverage the finance to build the new properties.

Housing Plus also contributed $1 million of its own money.

Mrs Andrew said a development application had already been lodged for the construction of dwellings in George Street, Mudgee, the first of the three cities to offer residents affordable housing.

Applicants will be required to put their name on a waiting list, which is not yet open to the public.

Mrs Andrew expects all properties to have finished construction and be tenanted by June 2014.