The push was part of the council’s 2030 Affordable Housing Strategy, which found that Melbourne was in the midst of an affordability crisis as a result of a rapidly growing population,rents increasing faster than wages,and insufficient investment in social and affordable housing for decades.
It was backed by research from consultants SGS Economics and Planning,which found that for every $1 invested in affordable housing,the community benefited by $3 through retention of workers in their jobs,educational benefits,health cost savings,reduced family violence and reduced crime.
The government is finalising a much-spruikedhousing and planning package and has said it is focused on boosting housing supply by streamlining the planning system and sidelining councils.
But councils and social housing advocates,who are calling for mandatory inclusionary zoning,say merely fast-tracking planning will have little impact on affordability and social housing stock.
City of Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece,who is also a former Victorian Labor secretary,said it was unfortunate the government had not accepted the council’s 2019 call for inclusionary zoning and that the housing crisis had only worsened since then.
“It was good policy in 2019,and it’s even better policy in 2023,” Reece said. “With the benefit of hindsight,you may even say our call in 2019 was prescient.”