Geelong council reveals plans for five city-owned properties amid social housing push

Geelong council’s plan to sell-off property to drive down debt has exposed deep divisions over City Hall’s role in delivering social housing, with the future use of five sites sparking passionate debate on Tuesday night.

5A Dean St is council-owned land that has long been used as an open public space. Picture: Alison Wynd.

Social housing and City Hall’s role in helping deliver it dominated debate among Geelong councillors as they ruled on whether to sell a handful of properties or pursue partnerships with registered housing associations.

You Yangs ward councillor Chris Burson said at the Tuesday night meeting that council needed to educate ratepayers so they better understood who benefited.

“I think the big problem we’ve had is that social housing has become a dirty word,” he said.

“It’s different things, it’s veterans … there’s young people that are stuck in aged care facilities … all these different groups of people who need a hand are social housing.

“But we’ve thrown it all into one that leads people to believe that you’re going to get someone who turns up in your street and steals your car.”

Councillor Chris Burson.

Members of the Real Deal Geelong Alliance gathered on the steps of City Hall prior to the meeting, where they held aloft paper houses in a show of support for more social housing – an action they repeated while councillors spoke on the issue.

The often passionate discussion immediately followed a move by all councillors to defer a decision on whether to endorse a recommendation that would have seen a former senior citizens hall in Whittington developed into social housing.

Connewarre ward councillor Elise Wilkinson said she wanted more information about an earlier expression of interest process targeting community organisations that received four submissions, only for officers to instead recommend social housing.

The Geelong Society of Operatic and Dramatic Arts wants to consolidate its operations at the 50 Westmoreland St site and its leadership was dismayed its proposal was overlooked in the face of a so far unsuccessful search for a new home.

The future of the former Whittington Senior Citizens Centre at 50 Westmoreland Street remains unknown after council baulked at approving it for social housing.

A majority of councillors endorsed the sale of three of the five properties on the agenda: 2-14 Rollins Rd in Bell Post Hill, 36 Dudley Parade in St Leonards, and 48-58 Barton St in Bell Park.

Only the St Leonards site got unanimous support, with the remaining two just scraping over the line, six votes to five.

Those sales were opposed by Anthony Aitken, Ms Wilkinson, Emma Sinclair, Rowan Story and Melissa Cadwell.

The sale of the remaining two properties – 5A Dean St in Belmont and 21-25 Oakden Rd in Drysdale – were scuppered by alternative motions.

Ms Sinclair’s motion for the Belmont site would see 40 per cent of the land retained as open public space, with the remainder set aside for social housing.

City officers will now prepare a report regarding the Drysdale site, which has effectively been used as an overflow carpark for the nearby cemetery, and come back to council by March next year.

Potential uses flagged in Mr Story’s motion include alternative housing, parking or open space.

Iven Affleck, Matthew Webster, Diane Webster and Pauline Affleck oppose council selling off land on Oakden Rd in Drysdale they say was donated by former community leader Harold Bennett. Picture: Alan Barber.

Former mayor Trent Sullivan opposed both the Belmont and Drysdale sales, which some saw as a significant step away from the conservative bloc of Stretch Kontelj, Eddy Kontelj, Andrew Katos and Ron Nelson.

While happy with Belmont and Drysdale outcomes, Real Deal Geelong’s Sally Fisher said the advocacy group was “disappointed that other well located land was not reserved for social housing in the midst of a housing crisis impacting thousands of residents”.

EARLIER: Creative hub or social housing? Council to rule on future of Geelong hall

A local arts group searching for a new permanent base is hoping Geelong councillors perform an act of their own by ignoring a recommendation from city officers to raze a former senior citizens hall and turn the site into social housing.

Councillors will meet on Tuesday evening to decide the fate of 50 Westmoreland St in Whittington, the former home of a local senior citizens group and where the Geelong Society of Operatic and Dramatic Arts (GSODA) wants to consolidate its operations.

Council launched an expression of interest process for the site mid-year in which GSODA detailed its case, backed by letters of support from MPs Richard Marles, Christine Couzens and Libby Coker.

Following a review of the four submissions received, officers have instead recommended the land be repurposed for the development of social housing.

If council endorses that approach, City Hall would seek to partner with a registered housing association via a “request for proposal” process.

The future of the former Whittington Senior Citizens Centre at 50 Westmoreland Street is set to be decided by Geelong council.

Social housing was preferred because of growing demand that is expected to reach 13,500 dwellings by 2041.

“Using surplus council land in collaboration with registered housing associations supports the viability of delivering social and affordable housing, helping low and moderate-income households who are unable to access housing in the private market,” the meeting agenda states.

GSODA’s history dates back almost a century and its 60-year-old Junior Players program fostered the teenage talent of Hollywood star Guy Pearce and actor Sophia Katos, among thousands of others.

In an open letter to mayor Stretch Kontelj earlier this year, GSODA president Jo Manderson emphasised “the essential role of community theatre and smaller, grassroots arts initiatives”.

“Yet we face the predicament of having no permanent home,” she wrote.

“To put the plight of GSODA into another light – if it was in fact a footy club with this much history, it would never find itself homeless or without strong council focus to keep them alive and flourishing.”

Former GSODA Junior Players Guy Pearce and Sophia Katos at the Geelong Arts Centre in November 2023. Picture: Brad Fleet.

GSODA was unsuccessful in its efforts last year to lease the former Trudy Moritz Centre in Norlane and missing out on the Whittington site would be another blow.

The organisation has been spread across multiple locations after its time at White Eagle House in Breakwater came to an end in mid-2022.

It has since held rehearsals at the Victorian Railway Institute hall on the corner of Latrobe Tce and Gordon Ave.

Also on Tuesday night, councillors will vote on whether to green light the sale of five city-owned properties.

Officers have recommended the handful of sites – 5A Dean St in Belmont, 2-14 Rollins Rd in Bell Post Hill, 36 Dudley Parade in St Leonards, 21-25 Oakden Rd in Drysdale, and 48-58 Barton St in Bell Park – all be offloaded.

Originally published as Geelong council reveals plans for five city-owned properties amid social housing push