Housing targets aim high but need demand to back them up

Targets have been set: now it’s time for councils to upzone and builders to build

By allocating 40,000 homes to inner and middle ring LGAs, the Victorian Government has shown that they have heard YIMBY Melbourne loud and clear: we need more homes where people want to live. 

The Government’s draft targets for Darebin, Kingston and Yarra align well with those published by YIMBY Melbourne.

The only sustainable way for councils to meet their targets is to densify existing suburbs to maintain the best access to jobs, services, and green space that these inner suburbs are known for.

Demand should be a key factor in determining housing targets

The Government’s housing targets do not appear to consider the differences in the economic feasibility between building homes in different local government areas.

While important factors such as public transport, jobs, and environmental hazard risk were used in the methodology, construction costs, land and home prices should be considered too.

Without a demand and data-driven methodology, there is a risk councils have been assigned targets higher than can be feasibly built, while the council areas where housing demand is highest might have targets lower than could be profitably built.

This risks making the distribution of targets inequitable, by setting up some local councils to be perpetually behind their targets while rewarding others for building a fraction of the capacity they could support.

We urge the Government to release their methodology and data sets for external validation.

Local governments have an opportunity to show they’re serious about solving the housing crisis

The Government has laid out its terms and the ball is now in the councils’ court, but one thing is clear: the status quo is no longer an option.

These targets cannot be met through building a few towers to subsidise endless urban sprawl. 

In order to meet these targets, local councils across Melbourne must upzone around our public transport network to unlock Melbourne’s Missing Middle.

If councils choose to maintain the status quo, they are choosing to prolong our housing crisis.

Quotes attributable to Jonathan O’Brien, Lead Organiser

“If councils choose to maintain the status quo, they are choosing to prolong our housing crisis. “

“Housing targets that do not first and foremost consider housing demand aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Our modelling suggests that it would be more difficult for Brimbank to meet their targets than Boroondara. If the Government is only going to reward those who hit their targets, then they are setting some of Melbourne’s LGAs up to fail.”