MARIBYRNONG City Council has taken the first steps to addressing the city’s housing crisis through its new Housing Affordability Strategy, but with no funding allocated within the current budget, those steps remained tentative.
The strategy was unanimously passed at last Tuesday’s ordinary council meeting after amendments to the draft were finalised following a community collaboration process.
Mayor Michelle MacDonald admitted there were limits to council’s ability to act on the issue, but insisted many of the actions proposed in the strategy could be managed at little additional expense.
She said there was already sufficient staff within council’s current office to go ahead with the policy, which would build on initiatives already in place.
“It’s really a State and Federal Government responsibility,” Cr MacDonald said. “We don’t have big loads of money to put into this strategy, which is part of the problem.
“The key thing here is advocacy. Our role is to make it as easy as we can for the State and Federal Governments to act to increase affordable housing.
“We would like them to come on board with us as a partnership to assist housing associations in developing programs to help the demographic of disadvantaged which is emerging. We would love to be more involved.”
The strategy aims to minimise housing stress by introducing initiatives such as a community garden project to reduce the cost of living. The new policy comes amid predictions the city’s population boom is set to continue, with more than 76,000 people expected to reside in the municipality by the year 2016.
Cr MacDonald said an increased gentrification of suburbs such as Footscray and Yarraville meant that low-income earners were being pushed out of the housing market.
“People who were previously able to afford to buy in these areas are no longer able to in the current market,” she said. “They used to come to our city because it was more affordable but they’re now being forced to move further and further out.”
MetroWest Housing Services chief executive Brett Bedson welcomed the new strategy, saying he hoped it would create stronger partnerships between council and community support groups. Mr Bedson said his organisation had witnessed a major increase in demand for emergency housing over the past few months.
