Darebin council lease Preston car park to community housing provider

A carpark in the heart of Preston will be leased out for community housing, despite significant negative feedback from the public.

Darebin Council will lease council land for community housing as an answer for the housing affordability crisis.

A carpark in the heart of Preston will become the site of community housing despite significant community concern.

Darebin Council will start a competitive tender process to find a housing association or charity to build and run community housing at 52-60 Townhall Ave, Preston.

HOUSING SERVICES STRUGGLE WITH DEMAND

RENTAL AFFORDABILITY REACHES ‘CRISIS’ LEVELS

PORTABLE UNITS CONSTRUCTED FOR HOMELESS

The housing would be income based and prioritised for people in need, such as those with disabilities, escaping family violence or at risk of homelessness.

This flyer depicting a public housing high-rise on the Townhall Ave, Preston site was slammed by Darebin Council as misleading.

But a number of concerns have been raised by the community, including overdevelopment and congestion.

The council received 309 pieces of feedback, 61 per cent of which did not support the proposal.

The chief complaints were that removal of carparking made the shortage worse, that a high-density development would be inappropriate for the area and that property prices around the site would decrease.

Darebin Mayor Kim Le Cerf said officers had considered all feedback raised.

“Council is aware of the wide range of opinions about this proposal and we are committed to ensuring any development of the site is thoughtfully progressed,” she said.

Any future housing development would go through the regular planning process but the site was zoned to encourage development and had a recommended height limit of five storeys.

Officers found little evidence that affordable housing negatively impacted surrounding property prices and committed to retain the current level of public carparking and rear laneway access on the site.

“THERE ARE 80,000 PEOPLE WAITING TO BE HOUSED AND 20,000 ARE CHILDREN AND WE’RE WORRIED ABOUT CARPARKING?”

Councillor Lina Messina said there was a problem with carparking throughout the municipality but that shouldn’t get in the way of a much-needed social development.

“There are 80,000 people waiting to be housed and 20,000 are children and we’re worried about carparking?” she said.

Data from the Council to Homeless Persons showed during the past 10 years the number of affordable one-bedroom rentals in Darebin had fallen to zero, and the number of affordable two-bedroom rentals had dropped from 47 to just nine.

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