Rental properties under $200 a week: Yarra Ranges misses out to Maroondah on affordable housing

After waiting more than 20 years, a once in a generation cash splash has missed major outer east towns, and it could hurt struggling families.

There is a serious lack of affordable housing in the Yarra Ranges. Picture: iStock

Yarra Ranges has been bypassed by the State Government’s $5.3 billion social housing push despite a desperate need for affordable accommodation in the region.

Earlier this month Premier Daniel Andrews announced the cash would go into building 12,000 new houses throughout Victoria over the next four years, and include homes for those on low incomes to live closer to their work.

But the Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed Maroondah is the only region in Melbourne’s outer east the State Government has selected for its initial projects.

Maroondah has been earmarked as a priority zones for its above average population growth, which is tipped to increase.

The comes after Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader previously reported in 2018, there was a shortfall of 650 affordable housing units in the Yarra Valley, as no new public housing has been built in the past 20 years.

Social housing across Melbourne accounted for 2.6 per cent of the rental market, and only 1.9 per cent in the Yarra Valley.

Homelessness support service Anchor chief executive Heidi Tucker said the funding announcement was “once in a generation” and a brave move by the government.

However Ms Tucker said she had not heard any announcements for Yarra Ranges.

She said the public housing waiting list was enormous and even those at the top waited years to secure a place to live.

“If you are homed properly you are more likely to get help for mental illness, recover and give back to the community,” she said.

She said while the area might not get a lot of the action, the cash injection would alleviate the number of people needing help coming through the system.

“The difficulty in the Yarra Ranges is a lack of other infrastructure including jobs, transport, and community services,” Ms Tucker said.

She said it’s likely areas like Brimbank, with more land, jobs and amenity would see more development happen.

Fellow homeless advocate and Holy Fools chief executive Neal Taylor said while it appeared the area might get a certain percentage of the money, he was concerned the State Government had incorrectly categorised the region.

“It always seems to go to Maroondah and Whitehorse and I’m concerned we don’t get a lot of the pie,” Mr Taylor said.

“We have the same problem with our homeless as Whitehorse, Maroondah, or the city.”

Mr Taylor is part of the Yarra Ranges Housing Action Group, which has lobbied all levels of government begging for more affordable housing.

He said there were very few available rental properties that were affordable.

“Even though there is a moratorium on evictions, we have seen some people having to leave because of issues with their landlords,” Mr Taylor said.

“I’ve spoken with people living in their cars, in motels or ended up on the streets.”

Yarra Ranges Cr Tim Heenan said the State Government did not understand the homelessness crisis in Melbourne’s outer east.

Cr Heenan said the government needed to review where money was most needed.

“I would encourage council to write to the State Government about this because it’s not good enough,” he said.

He said the demographics had been well documented with data showing the number of families at risk across the Yarra Ranges.

“The last warning bell is March when JobKeeper stops and we’ll start to see the real impact on families who cannot pay their rent,” Cr Heenan said.

A Department spokesman said the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build package would boost the state’s social housing supply by 10 per cent in four years.

“Maroondah has been identified as a priority local government area for the initial Request for Proposals stage, which opened on Monday, for in-progress or ready-to-build projects,” they said.