VICTORIAN Minister for Housing Harriet Shing has opened a newly completed North Melbourne development that has boosted social housing on the site by 13% to 127 homes.
The Abbotsford Street development, delivered through a partnership between Homes Victoria, MAB Corporation and HousingFirst, replaced 112 outdated dwellings with 127 sustainable one, two, three and four-bedroom homes aimed at being warmer in winter and cooler in summer, saving residents money on their power bills.
The development includes publicly accessible green space and is close to North Melbourne Primary School, tram lines, Royal Park and the hospitals and health services along Flemington Road.
The social housing stage has reached completion with renters to be welcomed to their new homes in the coming weeks. Additionally, 17 market townhouses will be completed in the coming weeks.
“These 127 homes will provide safe, modern and stable housing for Victorian families, in a great spot close to schools, transport and services,” said Member for Northern Metropolitan Sheena Watt.
The project supported more than 480 jobs during construction.
It is in addition to the Allan government’s $6.3 billion investment in social housing through the Big Housing Build and Regional Housing Fund. It says there is 10,000 homes underway or complete right across Victoria, and nearly 5,000 households are moving into brand new homes.
When complete, this investment will deliver more than 13,300 new homes for Victorian families, with at least a quarter of these in rural and regional Victoria.
There were 51,602 applications on the Victoria Housing Register at the end of June.
Last week, the state government said it would redevelop public housing towers in South Yarra and Richmond as part of its controversial program that it bills as Australia’s “largest-ever renewal project”, with the announcement coming despite a class action from residents hanging over the first phase of the program.
