Multigenerational social housing enters high growth phase
LONDON: The high growth phase in multigenerational social housing is also introducing creative design and welcoming neighbourhoods.
The Victorian government is considering development applications for more than 30,000 homes, and could potentially approve the projects within four months as part of its pledge to fast-track developments in return for affordable housing.
But an independent analysis of another state housing initiative – the Future Homes program, which provides off-the-shelf building designs – estimates that the cookie-cutter homes scheme could be applied to only 3250 individual lots across the state, and another 68,000 if lots were consolidated.
The government has prioritised more than 30,000 homes either in the pre-approval process or under active consideration under Labor’s Development Facilitation Program, which grants developers quicker approvals for including affordable housing.
Eligibility for the program was expanded as a key plank of the state’s housing statement in September and is expected to cut application timelines from 12 months to four.
The scheme allows the planning minister to become the decisionmaker on projects valued above $50 million in Melbourne and above $15 million in regional Victoria, on the condition that 10 per cent of the developer’s project is affordable housing.
Although other policies revealed in September were announced as medium- to long-term changes to increase housing supply, the government believes the program can deliver some of the most immediate benefits to the market.
Cath Evans, the Property Council of Australia’s Victoria executive director, said the figures were encouraging and called for improvements to boost supply further.
“Feedback from our members has indicated that there is a lack of clarity around criteria for the eligibility of projects for inclusion in the program and concerns around the feasibility of some of the mandated requirements,” Evans said.
Linda Allison, the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Victoria chief executive, said some of the additional requirements needed to access the program meant some projects no longer stacked up financially.
“In these cases, developers are choosing the conventional approvals route, which could include a protracted process at VCAT. And permits are great, but construction is better,” she said.
Jonathan O’Brien, a founder of housing activism group YIMBY Melbourne (Yes In My Backyard), said it was good to see changes happening that could encourage homes in the short term.
But an analysis by his group of the Future Homes program has raised concerns about how effective it will be at delivering more homes. The scheme provides off-the-shelf designs for developers and promises faster approvals if they are used 800 metres away from centres such as railway stations. No projects are yet under way.
The government’s own mapping tool estimates there are 666,000 eligible individual lots under the program, but analysis by YIMBY Melbourne estimates the true figure would be closer to 3250 lots, plus another 68,000 that could be viable if consolidated.
O’Brien’s analysis ruled out about 63 per cent of lots in the Future Homes radius because the lots were too small and did not have a neighbouring lot that could be consolidated. The designs were created with 1200 square metres of space in mind and are unlikely to suit anything under 900 square metres.
O’Brien said Australia had smaller lot sizes than in Europe and the cost of purchasing and merging these was a major barrier in housing policy.
“Future Homes would be much more successful if the government were providing an incentive and a method to consolidate the land because that is what is scarce,” he said.
O’Brien said the government had an opportunity to make the scheme more effective this year when competition opened for a new round of designs, by allowing more storeys, which would deliver a better return for builders.
A spokesman said the state government was pulling all the levers it could to boost housing supply.
“We’ve given industry certainty and since the release of the Housing Statement more than 30,000 homes have come into our accelerated assessment pathway,” he said.
“Our Future Homes program is just one of many levers we’ve pulled to help build 800,000 highquality new homes for Victorians over the next decade.”
