By Callum Godde, AAP
Local councils will be stripped of planning powers unless they follow an ambitious plan to build 2.24 million new homes by 2051.
With Australia in the grips of a housing crisis, the Victorian government has unveiled its final housing targets for all 79 local government areas across the state.
Statewide draft targets were lowered from 2.5 million to 2.24 million by 2051 following feedback from councils and communities.
Wyndham has been issued a target of 99,00 new homes – one of the highest in the state.
If councils don’t initiate the planning work to meet the new targets, the state government has threatened to intervene and unlock the required space including through rezoning.
“In the event that a council is not prepared or is not pulling its weight, then government can and absolutely will step in,” Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said.
The Victorian opposition has accused the government of trying to shift responsibility for fixing the housing crisis to councils and undermining local democracy.
“It’s not up to them to pass the buck to local government,” opposition local government minister Bev McArthur said.
Inner-city areas have not shouldered their fair share of Melbourne’s housing growth over the past three decades, Premier Jacinta Allan said.
Boroondara in the city’s east and Bayside in the southeast grew by 24 and 28 per cent respectively, in comparison to the outer suburban areas of Melton (433 per cent), Wyndham (346 per cent) and Casey (211 per cent).
While the City of Melbourne (119,500) has the largest final target, Melton (109,000), Wyndham (99,000) and Casey (87,000) have still been saddled with more of the burden than all other inner and middle ring areas.
Ms Kilkenny repeatedly insisted the state-first targets were based on “fairness and equity”.
They were not accompanied with specified plans to build more schools, hospitals and roads to accommodate for the future population boom.
However, Ms Kilkenny pointed out the government was preparing to roll out an infrastructure contribution trial in 2027 to replace “ad hoc” current arrangements for developers.
