Macedon Ranges Shire Council has adopted a new policy to inform future decisions around affordable housing.
Council’s Affordable Housing Policy directions focus on three key roles in relation to the issue: advocacy, decision making and facilitating/investing. The policy was adopted last week following community consultation.
Councillor Jennifer Anderson said local government was limited in what it could do with social and affordable housing, and that efforts would be put into advocacy.
“This is not about developer-led words that say ‘affordable housing’, this is about truly affordable housing and social housing for those people that really are struggling to have enough money to get food on the table and to clothe themselves,” she said.
“A lot of what we do is going to be advocacy and a lot of it will be to do with state and federal government laws and changes in the planning scheme so it is good we’ve got a start here.
“We are still waiting for a memorandum of understanding between local government and state government on housing so there are still a few bits of the puzzle to come.”
Cr Anderson acknowledged many groups in the community working to alleviate housing and cost-of-living stress including foodbanks and Rotary clubs.
Mayor Annette Death encouraged people to provide input to the document as it changed and developed over time.
“This is an important issue and something that’s only going to get more stressful as we move into these volatile economic times,” she said.
The policy is expected to be reviewed by June 2025, to consider both the commonwealth and state government’s strategic vision for affordable housing, which has not yet been released.
