Anne Parisianne
Hume council has called on the state government to ensure it delivers the infrastructure needed to accommodate 98,000 new homes in the municipality by 2051.
On June 16 the government released its draft 2051 housing targets which will result in two million homes being built in metropolitan Melbourne and another almost 500,00 spread across the regions.
Melton will absorb the most new dwelling (132,00) followed by Wyndham (120,000), Casey (104,000), Hume (98,000) and Whittlesea (87,000).
Premier Jacinta Allen said Victoria has the largest annual population growth of all Australian states and needs more than two million additional homes by the 2050s.
“There are parts of our city that have been locked up for too long,“ Ms Allan told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.
The draft council housing targets are largely based on access to jobs, transport and services, the government said.
Hume mayor Naim Kurt said council welcomed the government’s efforts to boost housing supply.
“Housing affordability is the number one issues facing Australians,” he said.
“As a growth council, Hume is already doing the heavy lifting in delivering more than 3000 homes annually and we believe inner city areas need to share with us to deliver more homes where infrastructure already exists,” he said.
“We’re confident we can reach the new targets, but we need commitments from the state on the timely delivery of infrastructure to meet growth and methods to create more capacity in the construction and private sector.”
A Whittlesea council spokesperson said the council was reviewing the draft targets.
The final council housing targets will be released by the end of 2024 following local government consultation.
Victoria’s metropolitan planning strategy, released in 2017, set a target for 70 per cent of new homes to be built in established suburbs by 2051, with the remaining 30 per cent in greenfield areas.
Since 2014, 56 per cent of new homes delivered in Victoria have been in established areas.
In one of his final acts as premier, Daniel Andrews set a target to build 800,000 homes across Victoria over the next decade when announcing the government’s housing statement in September.
Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 11,071 homes were approved for construction in Victoria in the first three months of 2024, putting the state on track to approve fewer than 45,000 this year.
-with AAP
