By Ewen McRae
Melton will require a dramatic increase in social housing, according to a new report.
A study from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has dramatically increased projections of social housing needed in Victoria over the next 20 years.
The AHURI report forecasts that by 2036, there will be a need for an additional 127,500 public or community housing properties in Greater Melbourne, and a further 38,500 properties in the rest of the state.
The report also said Victoria has the lowest proportion of public and community housing as a percentage of all housing stock at only
3.4 per cent, compared to the national average of 4.4 per cent.
The Melton and Brimbank region already has the fifth highest number of applications for social housing in the state, with 3222 applications lodged up until March this year.
Of those, almost half (1491) are considered priority cases, with each application representing a home, not the number of people that require social housing. The Victorian government has committed to build an additional 1000 public housing properties over the next four years, however executive officer of the Victorian Public Tenants Association, Mark Feenane, said more needs to be done.
“Enough is enough. Homelessness figures in Victoria are skyrocketing and our public housing stock is dwindling,” Mr Feenane said.
“Governments have a financial and moral obligation to ensure affordable and accessible housing is available, and sufficient to meet community need.
“The findings released today are a stark reminder of the urgent need to do more to address the real, urgent and growing need for housing for Victorians.”
Melton council families and children manager, Brendan Ball, said they would continue to push the state government for increases in social housing to keep up with community needs. “Council continues to advocate to the state government and community housing providers to explore opportunities to increase the social housing supply in the City of Melton,” he said.
