Aerial pictures show scope of 11-storey social housing apartment complex in Geelong CBD

Aerial pictures show that work is well underway at a social housing project in Myers St that will help address a dire shortage of in the region.

Work has begun on vacant land in Myers St that will be transformed into social housing. Picture: Alan Barber.

                                                            

New aerial pictures clearly show the scope of a Myers St social housing project that will see an 11-storey apartment complex help address a shortage of affordable homes in the region.

Melbourne-based Pitard Group has partnered with Homes Victoria to deliver the project and once complete it will be handed to a not-for-profit organisation to manage.

The site, once home to Kings Funerals, will offer 117 apartments and 83 car parks.

The apartments will comprise of one and two bedroom offerings, while the parks will be spread across the ground floor and level one.

Residents are expected move into the apartments by the middle of next year.

It is estimated Geelong needs 13,500 extra social housing dwellings over 20 years to meet demand.

As of March there were 58,459 applications for social housing in Victoria.

Work has begun on vacant land in Myers St that will be transformed into social housing. Picture: Alan Barber

A report looking into Homes Victoria and its plans for social housing delivery was recently released by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO).

The audit found Homes Victoria would deliver its expected 12,000 homes under the Big Housing Build, backed by $5.3bn of investment.

Four-in-five of these homes will be built on time by 2026, with the rest three years behind schedule.

Homes Victoria also does not have a plan to target new housing in areas with the highest demand or improve its financial sustainability, the report found.

VAGO made four recommendations which Homes Victoria accepted to combat the issues of needing long term goals and understand its financial challenges.

The Myers St site. Picture: Alan Barber.

The recommendations were to develop and report on specific, measurable targets, brief the government on future growth of social housing portfolio options and ensure staff consider data from its portfolio to inform all future site selection and project development decisions.

The fourth recommendation was to report to the government by the end of 2024 on plans to improve its financial sustainability as an organisation and the public housing sector more broadly.

Social housing is short and long-term rental housing that is owned and run by the government or not-for-profit agencies

It is for people on low incomes who need housing, especially those who have recently experienced homelessness, family violence or have other special needs.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.

Originally published as Aerial pictures show scope of 11-storey social housing apartment complex in Geelong CBD