What we are seeking
- Mechanisms to ensure future housing needs are achieved in balance with good design standards.
- Community voice restored to planning decision-making.
- An increase in social housing to ensure supply does not fall below 4.3% of Banyule’s total housing stock
- Mandates for a minimum affordable housing contribution to be included in all significant new developments.
Key facts
Major, far-reaching changes to planning regulations in Victoria have been introduced to deliver the Government’s housing targets. The reforms aim to significantly boost the supply of housing by:
- reducing development restrictions
- reducing opportunities for community input to planning decisions
- reducing the breadth of assessment conducted for housing proposals
- reducing scope for Councils to prepare residential development and activity centre planning policy.
What you can do
You can email a member of parliament raising your concern and asking for action on this issue. Our local area members and relevant ministers are listed below.
Lower House
- , State Member for Ivanhoe
- , State Member for Eltham
- , State Member for Bundoora
Upper House
- , Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan
- , Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan
- , Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan
- , Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan
- , Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan
Overview and background
While Council supports the Victorian Government’s population growth targets and the need for more diverse housing choice, Council is advocating for higher quality design standards to deliver better outcomes at the neighbourhood level. Council agrees with the Government ‘s intent to improve housing affordability in appropriate locations but has concerns about the recent call-in of several planning applications, effectively taking decision-making out of local hands so that the decision can be made by the Minister for Planning.
Although Council recognises the need to increase the supply and diversity of well-designed housing to meet community needs, we are concerned about:
- the lack of consultation with Councils and communities in preparing the reforms, particularly the Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill
- loss of decision-making for Council, through streamlined approval processes and an increase in opportunities for applications to be ‘called-in’ by the Minister for Planning
- restricting Council’s ability to align local planning with community priorities, such as retaining and promoting a 30% tree canopy and protecting neighbourhood character.
Housing Affordability Crisis
Rising property prices and rents have created a housing affordability crisis in Australia. 2021 Census data for Banyule indicates there are no dwellings affordable to purchase by very low-income earners, nor for a single adult on a low income. There are just 2,296 social housing dwellings in Banyule which is about 4.3% of total dwellings.
Housing Stress in Banyule
Housing stress is widespread with 63 per cent of households having mortgage payments of more than 30 per cent of ‘the household income. Similarly, rental Stress is being experienced by 45% of households with rental payments of more than 30 per of household incomes. This has increased drastically since 2021 where only 13% of households with a mortgage and 28% of rental households were potentially in housing stress in Banyule.
Government Response to Housing Crisis
The State and Federal Government have responded to the housing crisis with new housing policies:
- Victoria’s Housing Statement, released in late 2023, sets a bold target to build 800,000 homes in Victoria by 2034. This will focus denser residential development around within Melbourne’s established suburbs and an increase in social housing.
- The National Housing Accord has a commitment from all Commonwealth, States and Territories to deliver 1.2 million new, well-located homes over five years.
Banyule recognises that tackling housing affordability requires the involvement of all tiers of government. With the soaring cost of housing, developers stand to make significant profits from higher density residential developments. Council is advocating for a mandated requirement that all significant developments include a percentage of affordable housing to ensure a more equitable outcome for our communities.