2016-11-22
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — My constituency question is for the Minister for Planning. On 13 November the minister issued a media release announcing mandatory development controls for Fishermans Bend, focusing on social housing and smart design for the 80,000 people who will live there one day. Only three lines down it says:
Developers wanting permits taller than 12 storeys will be encouraged to include 6 per cent social housing in their projects, and to make at least 30 per cent of all apartments three bedroom.
It goes on to say that height limits will be now mandatory and applied to every existing development application under assessment. However, social housing will not be mandatory, only encouraged. Given that there are more than 33 000 applicants for public housing on the waiting list, why is the government only encouraging such a low percentage of 6 per cent social housing, and why is it not mandatory?
ANSWER on 9 February 2017:
The provision of affordable housing in Fisherman's Bend is a key priority for the Andrews Labor Government and careful consideration was given to how affordable housing could be secured when the interim controls were introduced in November 2016.
These interim controls, which will apply until 2018, will assist in securing some affordable housing whilst the Fisherman's Bend Taskforce undertakes further strategic work and consultation with the community to develop new permanent controls to guide the development of the area, including a review of the affordable housing requirements.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning's Planning, Building and Heritage group are currently working on how Victoria can provide more affordable housing through the Victorian planning system. The means of achieving this is being formulated, and a number of options are being considered, including the requirements for consultation. This work may allow for more prescriptive requirements in respect of affordable housing provision in new developments in the future.