When it comes to homelessness, City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Seema Abdullah’s message is simple: “At the end of the day, we need more houses.”
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“We have a severe shortage of safe, affordable and appropriate housing in the region,” she said.
“The question is, how do we change that?”
While Cr Abdullah acknowledged council did not directly provide social housing, she said it was playing a key role in advocating for greater housing affordability in the area.
As part of this, council recently adopted the Greater Shepparton Affordable Housing Strategy: Houses for People 2020.
The document aims to provide a “strategic basis” for council to ramp up its funding advocacy to the state and federal governments.
It also details a range of actions council will take to ensure the efficient use of funding and to support the increased availability and diversity of affordable and social housing stock.
“A lot of people might think, ‘It's just a document, what does this mean in real terms’?” Cr Abdullah said.
“But this strategy will provide us with a planned framework and sense of direction so we can productively address this problem.”
The numbers are bleak when it comes to homelessness in the local government area.
Most recent data from the 2019 Census revealed Greater Shepparton was estimated to have a rate of 5.56 homeless persons per 1000 people – the highest in regional Victoria.
As of March 2020, there were almost 1300 people on the Victorian housing waitlist in the Shepparton region.
In the area, rental affordability fell by 10 per cent between 2008 and 2018, with 27 per cent of low-income households experiencing housing stress.
And it has been forecasted an estimated 42 per cent of all forecast dwelling supply would need to be delivered as affordable housing to meet estimated demand by 2036.
Cr Abdullah said the affordable housing strategy would work towards changing this grim picture, starting by advocating for greater housing diversity.
“This is especially evident with one- and two-bedroom houses,” she said.
“Only 3.6 per cent of dwellings in our region are one-bedroom. And yet, 27 per cent of households in our region are single-person.”
According to local homelessness service BeyondHousing, more than 50 per cent of Shepparton households currently experiencing homelessness are single people.
“Of all Greater Shepparton’s dwellings, 87 per cent are detached houses and 72 per cent have three or more bedrooms,” Cr Abdullah said.
“So obviously, we are not catering to the needs of this cohort which is in housing stress.”
As part of its strategy, council will develop a reference group that includes other local stakeholders such as BeyondHousing and The Bridge Youth Services.
Through this group, council aims to build partnerships within the community to co-ordinate efforts and maximise available resources.
This includes encouraging diversification in housing stock and alternative housing models, assisting tenancy support programs and promoting improvements to rundown areas.
Council has also been negotiating with developers to build affordable housing in new estates.
“At this stage, it is not mandatory for developers to do this,” Cr Abdullah said.
“However, council is advocating for mandatory inclusionary zoning, which means we want the state government to legislate that developers must include housing diversity in their development.”
One of council’s initial actions has been to assess its own assets, looking for any suitable temporary or permanent housing options.
“We’re also advocating for the utilisation of state and federal government-owned assets,” Cr Abdullah said.
“We want to ensure all levels of government are involved.”
Cr Abdullah said council was also advocating for the construction of social and affordable housing as a key part of the COVID-19 recovery effort.
“By doing this, two issues will be addressed at once — the issue of homelessness and housing insecurity, and also the economy, by creating more jobs,” she said.
Cr Abdullah said council was taking a “leadership role” in advocating for an end to homelessness and housing stress in the region.
“Council has included the need for more social and affordable housing construction in the budget documents for Regional Cities Victoria — a partnership of 10 regional cities of which Shepparton is a member,” she said.
To read more of the Greater Shepparton Affordable Housing Strategy: Houses for People 2020, head to greatershepparton.com.au
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