_TRANSFORMING HOUSING

The future planning and provision of affordable housing is an important challenge for Melbourne.

Last week Aran Barker (Project Director at Collie) participated in an industry workshop on ‘affordable housing’.  The workshop was part of ‘Transforming Housing’ – a research and action project which is working to create industry partnerships to help expand the amount and quality of affordable housing across Australia.  Themes of the workshop included latest residential design approaches and construction technologies; land value and land capture opportunities, and; models for financing and leveraging new affordable housing.

To date, the delivery of affordable housing in Victoria and Australia has been largely ad hoc.  Initiatives such as the State Social Housing Investment Fund and the Commonwealth Nation Building Economic Stimulus have provided important injections of funding into the affordable housing sector but have been one-off in their nature.  Moving towards a more sustainable model of delivery is a complex challenge which requires input from all levels of government and the private sector as well as from Registered Housing Associations and providers.  The planning industry can also play a part in the process through its natural role as a conduit between government policy and the development industry and potentially through direct tools and initiatives such as ‘inclusionary zoning’.

Aran has considerable practical experience with affordable housing having previously worked with Housing Associations in the UK and having been involved in the delivery of affordable housing at Coburg Hill.  He will remain involved in Transforming Housing as the project continues.  Aran can be contacted on 03 8690 9300 or awb@colliepl.com.au