Council is currently looking at options to deliver a best-practice affordable housing development to the north and south of Curlew Community Park at 7-45 Epsom Street, Laverton. The development would provide a home for approximately 65 households with a connection to Hobsons Bay, that have previously struggled to find appropriate and affordable housing in Hobsons Bay through the private market.

This affordable housing development would provide homes for people with a connection to Hobsons Bay who are on the Housing Register. This will include vulnerable people, as well as lower income-earning key workers whose jobs are essential to the functioning and liveability of our municipality, such as childcare, health care and aged care workers, hospitality and retail staff, service industry staff and delivery personnel.

Affordable housing refers to a range of supported or subsidised housing types, including social housing provided by a not-for-profit, registered community housing provider, such as Housing Choices Australia. This project will focus on delivering social housing.

Social housing refers to long-term accommodation for families and individuals on very low to moderate incomes who cannot afford to rent in the private rental market. The development is proposed to be delivered through Council’s Affordable Housing Trust and provide social housing for Hobsons Bay locals. The housing will be priced to be affordable for the most disadvantaged members of our community. To be able to deliver this, the project is dependent on securing external funding.

The Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust will apply for funding from the Victorian Government to progress the project. Subject to funding and the requirements of the Local Government Act 2020, Council would provide the land to the Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust for the project, which it purchased in 2014.

The state government’s Big Housing Build program is a $5.3 billion investment in social and affordable housing. The program is being delivered to address the significant housing need in Victoria. At a local level, over 9,000 households are on the social housing waitlist in the Western Melbourne region alone. The investment, delivered throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria, will boost total social housing supply by 10 per cent.

The Big Housing Build is expected to create more than 9,300 new social housing dwellings across Victoria to create housing for those who need it. The Big Housing Build will also create new jobs to support Victoria’s recovery. The Big Housing Build is being delivered as part of a number of additional funding programs.

We know from repeated community consultation that access to affordable housing is a key concern for our community. Respondents to the Council Plan consultation last year told us that Council should take action to increase affordable housing options for residents.

There is currently a waitlist of over 9,000 households for social and affordable housing within Hobsons Bay and Melbourne’s West. As set out in our Affordable Housing Policy Statement, Council is committed to ensuring all households in Hobsons Bay can live in affordable, secure and appropriate housing that meets their needs, particularly for households and families with low and moderate incomes.

The land at 7–43 Epsom Street was previously the former Laverton Primary School. The school closed in 2009 and the site was cleared in 2010. Council purchased the site in 2014 for the purpose of providing open space (Curlew Community Park was subsequently opened in 2019) and consideration of future provision of affordable housing. Council subsequently purchased a single residential lot at 45 Epsom Street to enable a more holistic design for the overall site.

Design Guidelines are a set of statements, usually consisting of mandatory and preferred rules, that set out what is expected about the design of a building and what a building should look like and how it should relate to it neighbouring properties.

Council, with input from architects, geotechnical engineers, acoustic consultants, and urban planners, developed Draft Design Guidelines which outlined the expectation for the detailed design of 7-45 Epsom Street. These guidelines included recommendations on the building design, park and public space and neighbouring properties interface, access to and within the site, public and resident amenity, and environmental sustainability.

Following a period of community consultation, the draft guidelines were revised and subsequently endorsed by Council on Tuesday 9 August 2022. The guidelines will inform future development of the site and would be submitted with any future funding applications.

The design guidelines propose a maximum of four storeys (southern site) and three storeys (northern site), with the built form to step down in height on the street and park edges. This design will ensure that the buildings are lower near the street and park to reduce how tall and bulky the buildings appear from the street level and in the park. The development is proposed to mostly consist of one or two bedroom dwellings. The housing will be built to a high standard using quality materials, with a strong emphasis on environmentally sustainable design and which is also suitable and accessible for all kinds of residents including people with a disability and older residents.

The housing will be designed to promote opportunities for residents to meet and interact with each other within the development and surrounding areas to contribute to a sense of community. The guidelines do this by ensuring inclusive and equitable design and creating community facilities that can be actively used.

Council understands that Curlew Park is already a valued and much-loved community facility and the guidelines aim to ensure that the development complements Curlew Community Park by having windows facing the park. This ensures the building is more attractive from the park and offers views for residents of the development. Windows facing the park also help improve safety. The Design Guidelines incorporate principles of Crime Prevention through environmental design, which are built on an understanding that housing facing parks and other public spaces makes those spaces safer as it allows many people to keep a look out over the space.

Council’s Affordable Housing Policy Statement 2016 proposed to establish an affordable housing trust as a flexible and funded tool to implement the development of affordable housing in Hobsons Bay. The Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust has been subsequently developed and Housing Choices Australia (HCA) was appointed as the Trustee in June 2020.

HCA manages the assets of the Trust and reports to Council annually on the activities of the Trust and its progress against defined objectives. The key objective of the Trust is to create and provide affordable housing that meets the needs of the Hobsons Bay community.

Housing Choices Australia is the appointed Trustee to manage the assets of the Hobsons Bay Housing Trust. They report to Council annually on the work of the Trust. Housing Choices Australia is one of the largest community housing providers in Australia and currently owns or manages more than 7,000 properties across five states. Housing Choices Australia already owns and manages properties across Hobsons Bay in Newport, Spotswood, Altona, Altona North and Williamstown.

This project is about keeping locals local. The purpose is to help local residents who have a connection to Hobsons Bay, but who are struggling with the increasing cost of rental housing in Hobsons Bay, to stay in the local area, close to their family and their community. The experience of people housed in social and affordable housing shows that they have greater ongoing employment and education opportunities as a result of being in affordable and stable housing. With the support of affordable and appropriate housing, residents see improvements in their overall health and wellbeing because of the greater independence, community connections and access to effective mental and physical health support.

This is the first time Council has considered the development of affordable housing on Council owned land. Council has been considering the development of affordable housing at 7-45 Epsom Street for a number of years and has set up the Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust to assist with this development. The objectives and responsibilities of the Trust has been carefully considered and an experienced Trustee (Housing Choices Australia) has been appointed. This ensures that Council has the frameworks and expertise in place to make sure that the development is delivered properly. The current availability of external funding (including through the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build program) provides the opportunity for the proposed project to be funded.

The development would be managed by Housing Choices Australia as the Trustee of the Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust. The dwellings developed would then be owned by the Hobsons Bay Affordable Housing Trust and managed by Housing Choices Australia who have many years of experience in managing social and affordable housing. The ongoing management of the development by Housing Choices Australia will include tenancy management, building maintenance and repair, ongoing amenity and safety for residents and neighbours and community development activities.

To live in the proposed development residents will need to meet income eligibility requirements and have an existing connection to Hobsons Bay. The project will provide homes for vulnerable people who may receive government aged or disability income support payments. It would also provide housing to lower income-earning key workers whose jobs are essential to the functioning and liveability of our municipality, such as childcare, health care and aged care workers, hospitality and retail staff, service industry staff and delivery personnel who are on the Victorian Housing Register.

The revised guidelines require that all car parking provision for the development (including visitor and accessible spaces) be included on the site. Parking is to be undercroft or on grade and be sufficient in number to meet the requirements of future tenants.

At this stage, applications for this specific development are not open.

However, future social housing dwellings will be allocated to applicants from the Victorian Housing Register. Eligibility to register on the Victorian Housing Register is based on your annual income, with income ranges set at a maximum annual income of $62,000 for individuals, $93,000 for a couple and $131,000 for a family with children. Priority Access may be given to people who are escaping or have escaped family violence; people with a disability or significant support needs; people with special housing needs; or people who are homeless and receiving support.

Further information on how to apply for social housing can be found at https://www.housing.vic.gov.au/apply-social-housin...

In February/March 2022, Council undertook a community consultation process seeking feedback on the Draft Epsom Street Affordable Housing Design Guidelines. Most participants supported the proposed high-quality design ideas set out in the draft guidelines. Community feedback also highlighted some areas for improvement, which have been addressed through the revised guidelines, including:

• Height – maximum of four storeys (southern site) and three storeys (northern site), with the built form to step down in height on the street and park edges.
• Density – the revised guidelines state that density will vary appropriately across the site, responding to site opportunities and constraints.
• Car parking – all car parking provision for the development (including visitor and accessible spaces) to be included on the site.
• Vehicle access – the revised guidelines state vehicle access points will be minimised, with access to be provided from both Epsom and Fitzroy Streets.
• Access to Curlew Community Park – the revised guidelines propose a clear structural delineation between private and public realm through landscape and built form design; and that the boundaries between housing and public park are clearly delineated to show that Curlew Community Park remains a public space.

For more information, please view the revised design guidelines.