We have a shortfall of at least 5500 affordable rental homes in the City of Melbourne.
There is no silver bullet that will solve the affordable housing crisis. To be effective in increasing the supply of well-designed affordable rental housing, we need to work in partnership with state and federal governments, community housing providers, developers, investors and researchers.
We welcome Victoria’s Big Housing Build announced in November 2020 committing a historic $5.3 billion to construct more than 12,000 new social and affordable homes across Victoria. In addition to housing thousands of households, this is an important economic stimulus response to COVID-19.
Our ten year Affordable Housing Strategy outlines our commitment to deliver, plan, advocate for and deliver more affordable housing in the City of Melbourne including:
- ensuring up to 25 per cent of all future residential development on land owned by the City of Melbourne is dedicated to affordable housing.
- leasing a City of Melbourne-owned site to a community housing provider to deliver a long term affordable rental housing project in the next five years, seeking funding from the Victorian Government Big Housing Build.
- committing a City of Melbourne-owned site for a supported housing project to address homelessness in the next five years.
- advocating to the Victorian Government to develop an ambitious 10-year ‘Homes Victoria Strategy’, which should include clear affordable housing targets and a tangible approach to achieving them; such as through the introduction of mandatory inclusionary zoning.
- advocating to the Australian Government to deliver a long term National Housing and Homelessness Strategy. This should commit to systemic change in the housing market and increase funding for affordable housing.
Our research shows that for every $1 invested in affordable housing, the community benefits by $3 due to worker retention, educational benefits, enhanced human capital, health cost savings, reduced family violence and crime. It is an investment in both essential infrastructure and people.