Mornington Peninsula council demanding $100m now to tackle ‘tragic’ housing crisis
The foreshores of some of Melbourne’s most popular beaches could be turned into tent cities as the homeless crisis worsens.
South East
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A beachside playground for Melbourne’s rich and famous is in danger of becoming a tent city as the holiday haven records 1000 rough sleepers and 4000 more residents waiting for public housing.
The Mornington Peninsula is pleading for the state government to pour in $100m before November’s state election to provide shelter for homeless and at risk residents.
Mayor Anthony Marsh said homelessness in the region had reached “tragic levels” and zero emergency relief or support crisis accommodation left the council with few options.
Cr Marsh said the council was now reluctantly considering opening foreshore campgrounds for rough sleepers.
“A tent in a camp site should remain a summer holiday tradition, not a makeshift solution to our housing crisis,” Cr Marsh said.
“But that’s the forced position we find ourselves in due to an incomprehensible lack of support, interest and funding from the Victorian Government to support thousands of our vulnerable community members.”
Dire statistics revealed the region was the sixth worst for rough sleeping in Victoria and had just three rental properties classed as affordable for a low-income earner over the past year.
Renters had been smashed by 31 per cent increases in the past 12 months.
Cr Marsh said the state government had also been quietly selling off public housing on the peninsula, including a derelict property at Hastings that sold to a private buyer for about $600,000 earlier in the year.
“Why wasn’t that house demolished and replaced with affordable housing?,” he said.
The Mornington Peninsula has been allocated $7.5m from the Big Housing Build while
other municipalities have received far more, including Boroondara — $195.5m — and Bayside, which was allocated $120m.
“The disparity of funding for social housing and complete absence of any crisis accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula is a disgrace,” Cr Marsh said.
“It’s not about buying votes or winning seats, the state government has a moral obligation to step into this space.”
According to a PropTrack report between December 2020 and 2021 the Mornington Peninsula lost 732 properties suitable for renters on a low income and 881 rentals for those on a moderate income.
The shire’s senior social planner for housing justice and advocacy Rosalyn Franklin revealed that by December 2021 the region’s median rents were $150 more than Greater Melbourne for a house and $70 more for a unit.
Increasing land values and the impact of the reform of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to bring in improved residential standards had contributed to the rental shortage, Ms Franklin said.
“Real estate agents have advised that despite the housing crisis, some properties have been withdrawn from the rental market to avoid costs of compliance.”
The state government has been contacted for comment.
Liberal candidate for Mornington, Chris Crewther backed the council’s call and vowed to advocate for tax incentives at federal, state and local levels to encourage homeowners to share their properties with the needy.
Meanwhile, the shire has expanded a plan to ask holiday house owners to “surrender” summers by the sea and put their properties on the long term rental market.
Councillors will on Tuesday night be asked to consider asking permanent residents to think about house sharing and allowing vacant land to be used for accommodation.
A report to be tabled at the meeting proposed alerting locals to the housing crisis and using social media to “influence” their response.
Officers also recommended emailing “select ratepayers” to explain how landowners could help by releasing properties onto the long-term rental market.
The total cost of the recommended initiative was $200.
