By Alesha Capone
Wyndham council has been given a $200,000 grant to work towards boosting the amount of social housing within the municipality.
The grant, announced by the state government last week, comes from its Social Housing Investment Planning program, which provides councils with funding to plan new social housing in their regions.
Wyndham council will use the funding to develop policies to support the growth of social housing, identify suitable land for social housing and establish a forum to work with the government and housing agencies on delivery.
The council’s director of city life, Jenny McMahon said the grant would help it to improve the provision of social housing in Wyndham, particularly in growth areas.
“In particular, it will help strengthen council’s policies in support of increasing the quantity and quality of social and affordable housing,” she said. “Despite being home to one of the most affordable local housing markets in Victoria, there is an extreme lack of affordable housing in Wyndham.
“The latest Census data showed that Wyndham had 720 people experiencing homelessness and that the number of people living in severely overcrowded housing had increased by 139 per cent to 565 people.
“There is a need for social housing to be located in areas close to amenities like activity centres, public transport and community facilities.”
Ms McMahon said the council was collaborating as well with the Wyndham H3 Alliance, a partnership of health, housing and homelessness services – including housing association Unison – to help create more social housing.
Werribee MP Tim Pallas welcomed the Social Housing Investment Planning grant being allocated to Wyndham council.
“We need to grow social housing in Wyndham and I’m delighted the Victorian government has awarded this grant to assist council to plan for future growth,” he said.
