Town Hall plan to build affordable homes on inner-city carpark stalls

The City of Melbourne created a specialist team to fast track affordable housing developments — but a decision on whether to redevelop a carpark into a housing project has stalled.

The specialist team set up by the City of Melbourne to fast track the delivery of more affordable homes has taken more than a year to make a recommendation on whether converting an inner-city car park to housing is a viable project.

Homes Melbourne has spent the past 15 months investigating whether to go ahead with a proposal to turn the Curzon Street carpark, which is owned by the council, into an affordable housing development.

A report must be prepared and put before a council meeting before any decision can take place and the project move ahead. Community consultation on the proposal finished in May last year.

Council Watch vice president Dean Hurlston slammed the council over its slow pace on deciding whether to go ahead with the proposed affordable housing project.

“Homes Melbourne was announced with a lot of fanfare but it seems to have delivered very little,” he said.

“It has taken well over a year for no recommendation to be made on whether converting an inner-city car park into affordable housing is a good idea or not.

“Every month that this decision remains stalled means people looking for a home in the City of Melbourne have less options to find an affordable place to live.”

The Homes Melbourne CEO is Vijaya Vaidyanath, who was previously the chief executive of Yarra City Council.

Vijaya Vaidyanath.

During her tenure as CEO of Yarra Council, the organisation was involved in bizarre incidents such as flying the Aromantic flag – representing those whose experience of romance is disconnected or who experience no romantic attraction – over its town halls in 2021 and plans to slug Covid-hit businesses up to $5000 to convert carparks into outdoor dining spaces.

Homes Melbourne was set up in 2021 but it has not delivered a single affordable home since its establishment.

The City of Melbourne refused to answer the salary being paid to the Homes Melbourne CEO but it is understood to be over $200,000.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Town Hall had a “bold plan” to deliver more affordable housing.

“This includes a review of council-owned land and land owned by others for more affordable housing, including key workers,” she said.