This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
VICTORIA’S Allan government will tip in funds and remove a land title restriction to allow a former school site owned by the Rural City of Wangaratta to be transformed into 250 homes, comprising a mix of private, social and disability housing.
The homes will be delivered on the vacant area of the 64 Greta Road site, which will also include an early learning centre and a community centre.
The site is located within walking distance to local services and easy access to healthcare providers and education centres, the government said.
“Through partnerships like this, we’re ensuring high-quality homes are built where people want to live – close to work, school, local services, entertainment and healthcare,” said Victoria’s Assistant Treasurer Danny Pearson.
The government last year announced within its Housing Statement that it would aim to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade. That figure includes 152,000 new homes in regional Victoria.
Also yesterday, Victorian Minister for Housing Harriet Shing turned the first sod at the site of a new $4 million social housing development in Melbourne’s Epping, where homes are being delivered as a partnership between VincentCare Community Housing and Homes Victoria through the state government’s $5.3 billion Big Housing Build.
The nine two and three-bedroom homes will accommodate up to 23 people on the Victorian Housing Register. They are located within Development Victoria’s Aurora Housing development, providing access to the town centre, the Aurora Village shopping centre, schools and childcare centres, parks and playgrounds, as well as walking and cycling paths.
“Once complete, the brand new homes at this development will enable more people on the Victorian Housing Register to connect to schools, public transport, healthcare, and services in this growing part of the city,” Minister Shing said.
In the City of Whittlesea more than $130 million has been invested to create 319 new social and affordable homes.
Member for the Northern Metropolitan Region Sheena Watt said, “Building new social housing is key to supporting our growing suburbs in the Northern Metropolitan region.”
The Epping homes will be managed by VincentCare Community Housing, part of St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria, which is this week celebrating 170 years.
The Big Housing Build aims to ultimately deliver more than 12,000 new homes, with an additional $1 billion for at least 1,300 new social and affordable homes across rural and regional Victoria.
The government is providing a further 4,000 new social housing homes through programs including the Public Housing Renewal Program, and through the federal government’s Social Housing Accelerator, which will deliver 769 homes.
It has just completed new homes within a $57 million Croydon development, in the largest development to be completed under the Social Housing Growth Fund, and residents have started moving into a 434-apartment development in Prahran, where the Allan and Albanese governments have delivered new social, market rental and specialist disability homes as part of an Australia-first ground lease model.
