Housing target enforcement welcomed—but the maths really matters
YIMBY Melbourne welcomes the willingness and ambition of the Victorian government to enforce targets—but housing capacity must be feasible capacity.
Press Release
On-paper “capacity” has deceived Victorians for decades
The current planning system enables local councils to misled about their capacity for housing growth.
For instance, Boroondara’s on-paper housing “capacity” has been used by the planning establishment to defend exclusionary policies that have led to shrinking populations of young people across the LGA.
Housing targets must comprise viable capacity—that is, homes that can feasibly be built—and they must be updated at regular intervals to ensure at least 25 years’ worth of viable capacity in perpetuity. Otherwise, these policies will be pointless.
Government must provide insight on why inner-city housing targets have shrunk at the margins
All 19 LGAs where density is viable, as per to YIMBY Melbourne econometric modelling, have had their housing targets reduced.
The government should make clear how targets are being calculated, and the intervals at which they will be reassessed and recalibrated.
This should be an automated process undertaken by the planning department informed by a robust demand-driven model—not just the whims of rusted-on bureaucrats.
Housing delivery must be monitored and enforced
We cannot merely measure on-paper capacity—we must also measure the material construction on the ground.
Gone should be the days where we are allowed to be indifferent to housing outcomes.
If one Council is underdelivering housing when measured against the market at-large, then barriers should be investigated and corrected. That is the role that the Planning Department must play: the role of measurer and enforcer of outcomes.
Quotes
Quotes attributable to Jonathan O’Brien, Lead Organiser
“It’s time for the role planners play to evolve. In a housing crisis, planners should reorient toward ensuring that homes get built in good locations and good communities.”
“Instead of generating piles of documents consisting of misleading figures, arbitrary rules, and false promises, they must focus on building actual homes for actual Victorians.”
“Small rollbacks like this are exactly how the planning system works: bit by bit it chips away at what’s possible in our cities, and makes it harder to deliver the housing that people desperately need.”
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