Hi, I'm Clare Richards, Housing Solutions Broker, at Mount Alexander Shire Council.

Keep reading for an update on some of Council's recent work in the affordable housing area.

Council’s draft budget for the 2024/2025 financial year is out, and there’s an exciting project being proposed that aims to boost affordable housing in the shire.

In the draft budget you’ll see Council has allocated $500K for the establishment of a new housing initiative called the Mount Alexander Affordable Housing Trust (MAAHT).

The idea behind MAAHT is that it will be a charitable organisation set-up by Council to provide permanent housing solutions for the Mount Alexander Shire community.

Once established, MAAHT will be run independently and managed on the community’s behalf by a trustee, in cooperation with the locally appointment advisory committee.

At this stage, MAAHT is a proposition. In June, Councillors will make a formal decision at the Council meeting on whether or not to adopt the budget, and also to whether or not to establish MAAHT.

I’ll provide an update on this proposal as soon as we have an outcome from that meeting.

It’s an exciting proposition, and if approved by Councillors, an initiative our community will have ownership of, and lots of input in to.

Council officers have met with the two community housing providers aiming to deliver affordable housing on Council land regarding initial site assessments. Haven Home Safe aim to apply for upcoming State and Federal funding and finance to deliver affordable apartments at 30A and 65 Templeton Street, Castlemaine.

If successful, they will then start the planning process. Wintringham Housing have applied to the latest Homes Victoria grant round for the delivery of units at 2A Canrobert Street, Newstead and 10 Steele Street, Maldon for older community members on the priority housing waitlist.

The outcome of Wintringham Housing’s application is likely to be known later this year. Both housing providers will engage with community members about these developments once they have funding confirmed for the projects.

We're doing everything we can to ensure the housing needs of our communities are on the radar of Homes Victoria and other government bodies involved with affordable housing.

We recently hosted Homes Victoria representatives Janice Lane, Manager Local Government Partnerships and her colleague Ella Adams.

We visited the Templeton Street Castlemaine, Maldon and Newstead sites and also the State Government land at Etty Street so they are aware of what these affordable housing opportunities look like on the ground.

Just a reminder too, that last year in June Councillors voted to change Local Law 13, which relates to camping on private property where there is an existing dwelling.

The change now allows either a caravan, a tiny house on wheels, or a tent to stay on privately owned property with a current residence without the need for a permit.

This means there is more flexibility for people to stay in different forms of housing for an indefinite period of time.

Take a look at our website for more information, or contact one of Council’s planners if you would like to discuss your specific requirements.

You may have heard the news that the Victorian Government recently made some changes to reduce red tape for people wishing to put a small second dwelling on their property.

We've had quite a few enquiries at Council with our planning team around this.

The best place for you to find out more about this is the Victorian Government’s website, in the area of Small Second Homes.

Castlemaine Free University and My Home Network are hosting a series of conversations on collective housing models and how they may be implemented locally.

I presented to this group on the proposed Mount Alexander Affordable Housing Trust (MAAHT). In particular, I spoke about what it may be able to achieve in terms of permanently securing land for delivery of a wide range of non-market affordable housing models, for a wide range of needs in our communities.

If you are grappling with how to work together with others to make more affordable housing available on yours or others land, then the collective housing model may be for you. The next meeting of this group is focusing on different options for financing such forms of housing. If you are interested in attending, contact Kaz Neilson at cneilson@castlemainehealth.org.au.

We know many people are interested in this work, so I hope this update has been useful.

We hope to share updates every two months, or earlier if a project or opportunity arises.

Thank you again for your interest in this area.

If you want to spread the word, encourage people to click the 'Follow' button at www.shape.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/affordable-housing to receive these updates.

Clare Richards

Housing Solutions Broker, Mount Alexander Shire Council.

Image: Darren Fuzzard, Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Clare Richards, Council’s Housing Solutions Broker, and Janice Lane, Manager– Local Government Partnerships, from the Strategy, Policy and Planning Branch of Homes Victoria.

• $430 is the median weekly rent in the shire
• The availability of affordable rentals has declined by 20% since 2015
• 47% of shire households are in rental stress
• At least 14% of shire households are in mortgage stress
• 5,696 more people will call the shire home by 2046
• More than 700 households in the shire have an unmet need for affordable housing.