The Inner West Council, led by administrator Richard Pearson, is poised to outshine the state government's own policy by adopting an ambitious target of 15 per cent on affordable housing in large developments.

Mr Pearson said he was "very committed" to implementing the policy, which will be adopted in draft form at Tuesday's council meeting, and hoped it would be finalised by early next year after a period of public consultation.

While developers are unlikely to welcome the 15 per cent target, Mr Pearson said he would need to be provided with an evidence-based argument in order to dissuade him from adopting the policy in its current form.

"I would have to be very convinced there is something flawed about the target, not just 'we don't like it'," he said.

"This is an important social issue for the inner and one I'm determined to deal with."

The 15 per cent target, which will apply to all developments over 1700 square metres, is based on research commissioned by the council, which found that the inner west had "experienced some of the most significant and rapid increases in housing prices over the past decade."

As a result, a growing number of local people were "sacrificing basic necessities to pay for their housing costs," the research found.

With soaring house prices and rents forcing many people on lower incomes out of the housing market, affordable housing targets are designed to provide housing which can be rented at below-market rates by key workers such as emergency service personnel, and venerable groups such as aged pensioners and people with a disability.

The decision by the Inner West Council to pursue its own affordable housing target represents something of a rejection of the state government's city-wide 5-10 per cent target, which was mandated by the Greater Sydney Commission in its recently released draft-district plans.

"It's above the commission's recommendation, but we've done the work which we think proves the case for a 15 per cent target," Mr Pearson said.

Once the policy is adopted, the council will lobby the state government for approval in order to take advantage of the big development projects occurring in area, including along the Parramatta Road corridor and the Sydenham to Bankstown project.

The Northern Beaches Council is also pursuing its own affordable housing mechanisms, announcing on Thursday that a 10 per cent target will apply to the Northern Beaches Hospital Precinct.

Under the draft plan, 10 per cent of the estimated 2200 new dwellings will be reserved as rental properties for key workers.

In February, Ryde Council adopted its own affordable housing policy, which included a five per cent  target for all dwellings built between 2016 to 2031.

Under this target, up to 40 affordable dwellings may be built each year, a substantial increase on the 1.2 affordable housing dwellings approved on average each year between 2011 to 2015.

The chronic undersupply of affordable housing in Ryde was laid bare by an analysis of 350 rental advertisements from June 2015, which found low income households had effectively been priced out of the private market.

The research found there were no affordable properties available for low income households, and only 23 dwellings, or seven per cent, were affordable to low income households of which 19 were one-bedroom apartments.

The City of Sydney has also adopted an affordable housing target, where 7.5 per cent all housing in the area will be affordable housing by 2030.