THE HOUSING CRISIS: no more talking; time to act

The housing crisis is cutting deeply into the lives of many Australians as rents rise and cost of living soars. Both renters and homeowners are under pressure as governments and other decision-makers struggle to find solutions. And homelessness is getting worse. In the first of a series, Mornington Peninsula Magazine publisher Lisa Walton and freelance journalist Mike Hast analyse the Peninsula scene and report on some ideas.

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council flew a big kite recently when it asked for public comment on a scheme it says will provide more social or public housing. It wants to place a 3.3 per cent levy on all new houses built on the Peninsula. The money raised would build 600 to 1000 “housing units”.

“The shire has a shortage of 4716 social housing units,” said Mayor Simon Brooks. “It is now significantly more expensive to rent a home on the Peninsula than in Melbourne.” The shire will need 8000 housing units in the next 17 years.

The levy has generated a big reaction from developers, builders, community services, national and state media, residents and others. One claim was that social housing is the responsibility of state and federal governments. But the shire council has been asking governments to help it solve the Peninsula’s housing crisis for more than a decade, and the 3.3 per cent levy idea is designed to grab attention and create controversy. It’s unlikely to go ahead, though.

Some councillors had become frustrated over government inaction and the levy was a way of creating pressure and getting the housing crisis to the top of the public agenda.

The shire says the number of people waiting for social housing is growing – 3000 applicants on the Port Phillip side and 1000 on the Western Port side. Lack of affordable housing leads to homelessness. And there is insufficient crisis accommodation too. The shire has offered valuable land to the State Government for a crisis accommodation centre, but nothing has been built yet.

It’s telling there’s no dedicated emergency accommodation on the Peninsula. A temporary place in Mornington is slated for demolition and the site will be redeveloped. The property owner donated use of the buildings to community support groups as wrangling over planning permits played out. This was two years ago, so the place will soon be bulldozed.

The ‘homeless in paradise’ story of the Peninsula is well known. Melbourne’s summer playground has clifftop mansions at Portsea contrasted by people sleeping rough on the foreshore at Rosebud 25 minutes away. The shire says about 1000 people are “sleeping rough in tents and cars every night”.

Developers, builders and their supporters say the new levy will increase the cost of new homes. Yes, that’s obvious: $33,000 per $1 million of value. The levy will lead to high house prices, higher rents and less investment. It will increase competition for available housing and make living here even less affordable. It will also make it more costly to subdivide your block, creating a new piece of land.

It’s time for ambitious action, short term and long term, both small and big picture, and here are a few ideas:

• Owners of short-term rental properties putting them on the long-term rental market should pay no tax on rental income. Governments and stakeholders would need to fine-tune eligibility criteria to prevent too many houses coming onto the long-term market too quickly.

• The State Government now allows granny flats, or secondary dwellings, on a property of 300 square metres or larger. A building permit is still required and delays in approving them remain a barrier to timely construction. Simplify the process.

• It’s too costly to subdivide a good-size block and build a house. And it takes too long to get permits. This is not just a Peninsula problem. And we can better preserve the green wedge by allowing this infilling. Yes, we’ll need improved infrastructure.

• Tiny houses on wheels. The shire council has been quite innovative: no permit is required for living in a tiny house for six months out of 12 if it’s on your own property with sanitary facilities and no detrimental impact on neighbours. A few progressive councils allow full-time use. Surf Coast Shire is running a trial of tiny houses on other people’s properties. Community interest in THOWs is very high – the Tiny Homes Expo at Mornington Racecourse in March was packed to the rafters.

Next issue: more ideas, and what the three levels of government are doing

The State Government now allows a secondary dwelling, or granny flat, in the backyard of a property 300 square metres or larger, but a building permit is still required and approval can be complex and lengthy.