More social housing

Melbourne’s high-rise public housing towers were built after World War II, between the 1950s and 1970s. They’re reaching the end of their useful lives, and no longer fit for modern living. Constructed at a time that pre-dates current building codes, the towers no longer meet the minimum standards Victorians expect – including many of Victoria’s Better Apartment Design Standards.

The towers fail against noise, sustainability, waste and recycling, bedroom area dimensions, room depth, ventilation, private open space, accessibility and minimum amenity standards. Substantial investment would be needed to retrofit the towers. But even then, their design means that many tower homes would never be able to meet contemporary codes, nationwide energy rating schemes or accessibility needs for many households.

We’ll launch Australia’s biggest ever urban renewal project: retiring and redeveloping all of Melbourne’s 44 ageing high-rise public housing estates by 2051.

Not only will the redevelopment mean households will move into a new home that meets every modern building standard – it’ll boost the overall number of social homes across these sites by 10 per cent, while also boosting the number of affordable and market homes across the sites. There are currently around 10,000 people living across the 44 towers. Once we’ve redeveloped them, we anticipate around 30,000 people will live across these sites.

On top of our Big Housing Build, we’ll build up to 769 new social housing homes over the next five years with funding from the Commonwealth Government’s Social Housing Accelerator. Announced in June this year, the Social Housing Accelerator is a $2 billion investment in new social homes across Australia, with $496.5 million provided for new homes across Victoria. We’ll use this funding to build 769 new homes including low density developments on Homes Victoria owned land, as well as medium and high density developments on Victorian Government owned land. We’ll also examine site spot purchases we can make across the state for further developments. This funding will support the redevelopment of the two towers in Carlton.

We’ll invest $1 billion in the Affordable Housing Investment Partnership (AHIP) program, providing low interest loans and government guarantees to finance social and affordable housing for Victorians that need it most – including projects that provide affordable housing for essential and key workers. The new AHIP expands on the previous Building Financial Capacity of Housing Agencies (BFCHA) initiative, bringing the total funding available up to $2.1 billion. This is the first time that government low interest loans and government guarantees are available in Victoria for affordable housing as well as social housing.

Developers need a certain level of apartment pre-sales before a housing project can commence construction – which can often add delays to new projects kicking off. We'll explore opportunities to buy pre-sale off-the-plan apartments in medium and high density developments to boost Victoria’s social housing stock. We’ll consult with industry on opportunities to buy at scale through spot purchasing. And we’ll buy directly from project proponents, making sure we don’t reduce stock in the market.

When a development project is finished, there are often a small number of units that don’t end up being sold or leased. This means there could be as many as several thousand apartments left empty right now that could make a home for someone. Industry feedback suggests there may be opportunities for long-term headleases of these leftover apartments at social housing rental rates to support families who need social and affordable housing. We'll call for expressions of interest to test market appetite to add some of these apartments to our supply of affordable housing and help reduce the waiting list. The approach to market is not intended to subsidise developers beyond current social housing rental arrangements, or affect Homes Victoria’s financial position.