The draft Macedon Ranges Affordable Housing Policy has been released for community consultation before its adoption in June.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s director of planning and environment, Rebecca Stockfeld, said the new policy built on the 2021 Affordable Housing Interim Policy and put the housing crisis on council’s agenda.
“Council adopted its Affordable Housing Interim Policy with the goal to increase the supply of appropriate affordable housing in the Macedon Ranges through our role as an advocate, decision-maker, facilitator and investor,” Ms Stockfeld said.
“The interim policy was developed as a first step to enable a broader range of work in this space, to put affordable housing on council’s agenda and to convey council’s interest to the Victorian Government and our community on this important issue.”
A minimum investment of $30 million has been committed to the Macedon Ranges for social and affordable housing through the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build initiative.
The policy looks at data from the latest Census and other data, revealing the profile of low and low-to-moderate earning households and those facing housing stress in the Macedon Ranges.
In 2021, households where mortgage costs were greater than 30 per cent of income ranged from 6.7 per cent in Woodend to 13.2 per cent in Romsey district. Overall, mortgage costs exceed 30 per cent of income in 11.2 per cent of households both in Macedon Ranges and in regional Victoria.
In 2016, the shire had a total of 1036 households in rental stress with 490 households in severe stress or facing homeless. This represented 5.9 per cent of all households in the shire.
Deputy mayor Jennifer Anderson said council’s new policy was driven by statistics and would help council address the needs of vulnerable people in the community.
“In particular, when we look at the lease of new land and how the development plans, the overlays, the precinct structure plans are being developed, to make sure we include truly social and affordable housing – not a developer’s definition,” she said.
“Unfortunately the planning scheme at the moment, in my opinion, is not strong enough, but our document will advocate for that.
“There are some areas we need to be cautious with when we talk about ‘diversity’ – I think we need to make sure that those statements are not misinterpreted.”
Mayor Annette Death said the draft had not been drastically changed from the interim policy and urged community members to review the documents.
To view the document in full and to make a submission, visit the council’s website. Submission close at 5pm on May 21.
A final Affordable Housing Policy is expected to be presented to the council for consideration at the scheduled June meeting.
