Hepburn Shire Council has committed to improve housing affordability in the shire.
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At its most recent ordinary meeting of council, councillors adopted an Affordable Housing Policy and committed to consideration of an additional scope of works to tackle the issue of affordable housing.
Mayor, Cr Lesley Hewitt, said housing affordability was a significant issue across the state, with the shire experiencing affordable housing shortages in both purchase and rentals.
"Affordable housing is a complex issue for Local Government. We are aware that rising costs of housing over the past decade has made access to safe and secure housing, along with mortgage and rental stress, a critical issue for our community.
"There has been significant community and media interest highlighting the lack of affordable housing in our Shire and we have heard considerable feedback as part of the Hepburn Together project, developing our Council Plan 2021-2025."
The decision to adopt the policy comes after the council last year formulated a report which highlighted the roles the council could play in addressing the issue - advocacy, encouragement, investment and partnership - with the creation of a policy noted as the way to provide a strategic direction to consider them.
Several months later, in December 2020, council resolved to develop a "high level" affordable housing policy with a commitment to engage with the community to consider how affordable housing best fits with the Council Plan and current budget.
A workshop was convened in February this year to engage the community and government stakeholders to facilitate a better understanding of the local, state and national policy context, the breadth of potential council roles and responsibilities in relation to housing affordability.
The adoption of the policy is the first step to enabling a broader range of work through a two to three year period, including undertaking research on housing affordability from the perspective of social policy and land use planning.
This research will seek to inform policy, community awareness and the real-life implications of the issue.
Council has been working with Safe Place Inc, a community advocacy group committed to improving the availability of affordable housing in the Hepburn Shire, to determine the roles and responsibilities in relation to decision and resourcing pathways.
Chairperson Kate Redwood said the group welcomed the move as an "important milestone in addressing the very significant shortfalls in affordable dwellings in the shire".
Last year, the group sponsored a gap analysis that identified a shortfall of about 350 affordable dwellings in the shire.
A range of groups are affected. The biggest is single, elderly women with little financial means, followed by young people who would ordinarily work in the hospitality industry.
"There are a number of businesses across the shire that are currently only open a limited number of days because they can't get staff, because potential staff can't get accommodation," Ms Redwood said.
A significant number was also identified as being in rental or mortgage stress.
"People think of Hepburn as a wealthy shire - they see fantastic restaurants and visitor accommodations - but in actual fact the average income for households is in the bottom percentile, the lowest 25 per cent."
Ms Redwood said this translated into "a great deal of struggle" for people looking for affordable and available accommodation.
"It has become very expensive and continues to do so as a result of people from Melbourne coming to the regions," she said.
Ms Redwood said Safe Place hoped to provide an engaged and welcoming community - so the elderly can afford to continue living in the towns they know and love and so people who are getting jobs in the area can afford to live there.
"When you look at the level of hardship and are looking at the wider issues and what makes a good society and community - it is diversity. We don't want people to be excluded."
Safe Place is currently examining "the extraordinarily high proportion of vacant housing in the shire" and how it could be developed into shared housing for multiple people.
Another potential solution is the possibility of single, elderly people providing accommodation in exchange for assistance around their home - such as with grocery shopping or walking their dog.
Developing other kinds of housing, such as tiny housing or caravans, is also being assessed.
"We are also interested in looking at what can be done about the levels of rentals. Overall there is a shortage of rental stock, but what there is is extraordinarily expensive across the whole shire.
"It is across the whole shire. Traditionally it was in Daylesford, Hepburn Springs and Trentham but now it's extending everywhere."
Ms Redwood said there were also options for delivering additional housing stock, including potentially building more affordable homes or implementing inclusion rezoning.
"Safe Place would like to see the allocation of 1 in 10 dwellings in developments to be made affordable housing," she continued.
With significant funding to be required to undertake the work, council will seek support from the government.