In the lead up to November’s Victorian State Election, frustrated councils in Melbourne’s outer east are calling on all political parties to commit to mandating the inclusion of social or affordable housing in new developments.
Six councils have formed the Eastern Affordable Housing Alliance, campaigning for a commitment to provide more than 11,000 homes to cover the shortfall in the eastern metropolitan region.
Launch Housing chief executive Bevan Warner said political parties needed to ensure that councils could make decisions regarding affordable homes.
“Local government should be able to include conditions to promote the broader public interest and that must include affordable and social housing. I think both sides of government need to clarify whether legislation is needed or not,” Mr Warner said.
The Victorian Greens Samantha Ratnam says the Greens would legislate to ensure every new large housing complex had a minimum of 30 per cent affordable homes.
‘The effectiveness of this idea has already been proven. Cities such as New York, London and San Francisco have undergone housing stress similar to what Melbourne is experiencing, and the use of genuine inclusionary zoning helped ensure that more people had a safe place to live,’ Dr Ratnam says.
The Victorian Government and opposition have not made a commitment.