THE Greens are again at loggerheads with Labor over housing policy – this time with Victoria’s Allan government – with the minor party calling for 50% of new units built across 50 train and tram activity areas to be public and affordable housing.
In an expansion of the Activity Centre program, Victoria’s Allan government announced on the weekend the first 25 train stations that would see planning controls allowing for higher density housing around shops and transport.
It says this will deliver more than 300,000 additional homes across Melbourne by 2051. The announcement is in tandem with its ambitious Housing Statement, released a year ago, which aims for the delivery of 800,000 homes over a decade – and obligations to be fulfilled as part of the National Housing According and Housing Australia Future Fund.
The Greens said that “fast-tracking the plans of wealthy property developers and providing short-term stamp duty concessions for property investors without forcing them to build any public and genuinely affordable homes will actually make the housing crisis worse.”
“We’re in the worst housing crisis we’ve seen in decades and property developers are building expensive houses, hoarding land and keeping homes empty,” Greens spokesperson for public and affordable housing, Samantha Ratnam said.
“If Labor actually cared about building homes that young people can afford, they’d require developers to build genuinely affordable and public homes in these zones, rather than just allowing developers to build expensive luxury apartments.
“Labor must commit to building more public and affordable housing – not just expensive luxury apartments.”
The Labor government is currently undertaking the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build program, which aims to boost the state’s social housing supply by 10% and deliver 12,000 new social and affordable homes throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria.
Minister for Housing Harriet Shing yesterday visited a social housing development in Moe featuring seven brand-new townhouses that will home families at risk of or experiencing homelessness, and people escaping family violence.
Almost 10,000 social and affordable homes are under construction or completed through the Big Housing Build, the government says. Its Development Facilitation Program is an accelerated assessment pathway for eligible projects which includes a 10% affordable housing requirement for residential projects.
At a federal level, the Greens and Labor have quarrelled over a number of housing policy bills in recent times, including the Housing Australia Future Fund and build-to-rent tax concessions.
Council to Homeless Persons last week urged the Victorian government to develop at least 6,000 public and community dwellings each year for a decade to combat the housing crisis. The government is also pushing ahead with plans to redevelop 44 public housing towers as part of a controversial program it bills as Australia’s “largest-ever renewal project”.
It has been facing heat from so-called NIMBYs and the state opposition following its announcement of the 50 new activity centres. A small protest was held in Brighton on Sunday – where Premier Allan was announcing the policy – by residents unhappy about a lack of consultation and concerned about overdevelopment in the suburb, led by Shadow Housing Minister James Newbury, who held a sign that read “Bayside don’t want 20 storey apartments Jacinta”.
Appearing on 3AW yesterday, Premier Allan said, “Yes, we need to listen to those who want to say no. We also need to listen to those who want to say yes.
“We can’t just listen to those who say no, because that in part is why we’re here.”
“We can’t put our head in the sand. Because you know that does? That says to anyone under the age of 40 – we don’t think you should have a roof over your head. We don’t think you should have a place to live close to where you grew up.”
“(We) just can’t take a ‘no’ approach.”
Melbourne’s rental market is witnessing a crushingly low vacancy of 1.67%, according to the latest PropTrack data.
Developer contributions shake-up
Continuing its run of housing policy announcements – it has also unveiled changes to stamp duty concessions this week – the Allan government yesterday announced it would create a “fairer system” for property developers to contribute to funding for local infrastructure, parks and services in the suburbs where they build more homes.
The pilot developer contribution system will be introduced at the first 10 Activity Centres across Melbourne earmarked by the government in August for higher density housing around transport, jobs and services.
The government will also give seven growth areas in Melbourne’s urban fringe access to $150 million in infrastructure funding paid for with existing developer contributions.
Currently, 43 of 79 councils collect developer contributions in different ways, and there are 133 separate developer contribution plans in place across the state.
The government said the system has “delivered a lot of local benefits”, but it’s “unfair”, as too many communities are missing out on funding, even growing ones, it’s “not in the right areas”, such as inner-suburbs where more houses will be built near public transport, it’s a “mishmash”, where one area or side of the street might charge it while the other doesn’t, and an “administrative nightmare”.
“Through these short-term and long-term changes, suburbs that build more homes will get more funding for the things they need, like roads, paths, and public transport services, new and upgraded schools, upgrades to health and community facilities, plus parks, playgrounds, sport and recreation, open space – and more,” it said.
