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Six years since the Victorian government promised to develop surplus government land for affordable and social housing, not a single home has been built under the initiative.
Advocates say the stalling of the so-called inclusionary zoning pilot project has left them doubting the government’s ability to effectively tackle the housing crisis in its looming statement.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced that six surplus government sites would be sold at discounted rates in return for 100 social homes being incorporated into the wider private housing projects.Credit: Joe Armao
Inclusionary zoning is a system used in the US, Europe, South Australia, the ACT and parts of NSW that requires a proportion of social or affordable housing be delivered as a condition of approval for larger housing projects.
“The community housing sector is really concerned that the housing statement is not going to introduce mechanisms such as inclusionary zoning to ensure ongoing supplies of affordable housing,” said acting chief executive of the Community Housing Industry Association, Jess Pomeroy.
“If that is the case, it will be a missed opportunity in an environment where housing stress is very front of mind in the community.”
Labor started talking about inclusionary zoning almost 20 years ago in response to declining housing affordability but it faced strong opposition from the property industry.
Labor promised during the 2014 election campaign which swept it to power that it would launch a scheme developing surplus government properties for housing.
In early 2017, Premier Daniel Andrews announced that six surplus government sites – in Parkville, Broadmeadows, Reservoir, Noble Park, Boronia and Wodonga – would be sold to developers at discount rates in return for 100 social homes being incorporated in the wider private housing projects.
And as the sites were publicly owned, planning approvals would be handled by the government, bypassing local councils and communities, in a bid to speed up the process. The government said construction would start in 2018.
But not a single home — private or social — has been built on any of the sites; the largest of the projects has stalled completely, and the other five are languishing at various stages in the state’s planning processes.
The government contracted Met Communities, an offshoot of the country’s biggest home builder, Metricon, to develop five of the sites.
Metricon project director Rod Binedell said the government had approved broad development plans for three locations — Boronia, Broadmeadows and Wodonga — but confirmed construction had not begun on any of the sites.
Binedell denied the building industry’s current woes had contributed to delays but did not explain why progress was so slow.
He said he anticipated the projects to be completed between 2025 and 2028.
“By the time construction commences, any supply chain constraints should have largely abated,” he said.
The Parkville site — purchased by the former Coalition government for the East West Link, later abandoned by Labor — is earmarked for the most apartments (250) and contracted to the not-for-profit Barnett Foundation.
The foundation’s website says its project is on hold due to the “size, complexity and unforeseen circumstances” but that the foundation is working with the government “to sort through some issues”.
The foundation declined to comment.
Hume City Council’s Sam Misho stands on the site of a former primary school in Broadmeadows where construction on social housing has stalled.Credit: Joe Armao/The Age
Local councils expressed frustration that prime government real estate in their municipalities was left vacant amid a housing crisis.
In Melbourne’s north-west, Metricon has been contracted to build 65 new homes on a former primary school site on Nicholas Street in Broadmeadows.
Sam Misho, a councillor for Hume City Council, which covers Broadmeadows, said it was crucial that more social housing was built in one of the lowest-earning suburbs in the state
He said a lack of government information had left the council in the dark over the site, including how much social housing is earmarked.
“There needs to be more transparency and a constructive timeframe for completing the project,” he said.
On Dumbarton Street in Reservoir, Metricon has also been hired to develop a site once set aside for a freeway. The government has not rezoned the site for housing yet.
Darebin Council said it had not been consulted and was unaware of progress on the Reservoir project, including the amount of social housing Metricon is required to include on the site.
The story is much the same on the other three sites, in Boronia, Noble Park and Wodonga.
The government did not respond directly to a series of questions about the inclusionary housing pilot, including about the number of social housing units now planned for each site.
Instead, a spokesperson said the pilot was on track to deliver 100 new social homes across the six sites.
“We know there’s no more important an issue anywhere in the state right now than housing – that’s why we’re making sure there is a mix of social, affordable and market housing in established suburbs close to transport, jobs and essential services,” the spokesperson said.
The government has said its upcoming reforms will boost housing supply by streamlining the planning system and sidelining councils.
Councils and social housing advocates, who are calling for mandatory inclusionary zoning, say that merely fast-tracking planning will have little impact on affordability and social housing stock.
The Age has previously revealed the government’s upcoming reforms are likely to include a voluntary scheme whereby neighbours will be denied the right to object to housing projects if developers agree to include a proportion of affordable homes in their proposals.
The Community Housing Industry Association’s Pomeroy said that in 2021, a state parliamentary inquiry into homelessness recommended mandatory inclusionary zoning.
She said the government’s upcoming housing statement was an “opportunity for meaningful action to improve the lives of the growing number of Victorians who are being let down by the private rental market”.
The Victorian Greens have pushed for mandatory inclusionary zoning that requires half of all dwellings in new developments to be social or affordable housing.
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