Victoria has committed $5.3bn to social housing November 16, 2020

Yesterday the Victorian Government announced a $5.3 billion funding commitment to build more than 12,000 public and community housing homes within four years throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria (the Package).

The opportunities for affordable housing and the property/construction industries in Victoria are significant, as detailed in our earlier article, and are now made possible with this Package.

The Package is to be included in Victoria’s 2020/21 budget which will be released on 24 November and will include the delivery of 9,300 new social housing homes and the replacement of 1,100 existing public housing units.

It was announced that the following allocations of new social housing homes will be made:

• 2,000 homes will be allocated to people with mental illness;
• 2,900 new affordable and low-cost homes would be built to help low-to-moderate income earners live closer to work;
• 1,000 dwellings to support Indigenous Victorians; and
• 1,000 dwellings to support victims of family violence.

The Housing Minister has also confirmed that a quarter of the funding will be committed to regional Victoria.

The Package will help tackle homelessness by boosting the state’s social housing supply by 10% within four years. It will also create about 10,000 jobs a year over the next four years with an expected generation of $6.7 billion in economic activity.

With more than 100,000 people on the waiting list for public housing, this program is a step in the right direction towards solving Victoria’s housing and homelessness crisis. The construction industry will no doubt welcome the pipeline of work generated from the package after a more than challenging year of extended lockdown.

It is evident that the funding will not only help address the housing and homelessness crisis as exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also help Victoria move towards recovery.

Jeffrey Pinch and Briget O’Callaghan have considerable experience in advising and representing developers, registered housing providers and non-for-profits in relation to affordable housing.

DISCLAIMER: We accept no responsibility for any action taken after reading this article. It is intended as a guide only and is not a substitute for the expert legal advice you can receive from marshalls+dent+wilmoth and other relevant experts.