Early work on using council land for affordable housing

Posted

18.11.2021

Breno Assis R3wawu5fi5q Unsplash

Photo by Breno Assis on Unsplash

 

This week CHIA Vic’s Stephanie Ng presented findings from CHIA Vic’s work on securing affordable housing contributions to the Municipal Association of Victoria’s Inter-Council Affordable Housing Forum. Part of a broader session focusing on how local councils can use their land for social and affordable housing, the presentation focused on a few key models that councils could consider using to release their land, and the mechanisms that could then be used to secure the affordable housing that is developed.

These findings come from a larger project that examines ways that community housing organisations and local governments can work together to deliver affordable housing on council land or on land made available through the planning system. Developed in partnership with MAV and guided by a diverse advisory group, comprising representatives from community housing organisations, local government, Homes Victoria, MAV and CHIA Vic, the project will deliver several reports as well as a range of resources to assist local councils to work through which mechanism will best suit their needs, and to understand the implications of their choice for project partners such as community housing organisations.

Recognising the importance of this work for councils interested in using their land for projects in the Regional Round of the Big Housing Build which is currently out with the community housing sector, CHIA Vic launched an advance copy of the first report Options for delivering and securing Affordable Housing on Local Government Land at the Forum, which can be downloaded here.

Additional resources are expected to be released in the coming months, with a formal launch of the full suite planned for early 2022.