Stable And Ongoing Funding For Housing - A Gamechanger
2 March 2022
Days after the announcement of a package of planning reforms that promised to provide an ongoing secure funding stream for community housing in Victoria has disappointingly been abandoned.
Despite this setback, the Community Housing Industry Association of Victoria is committed to work with the Victorian Government and key stakeholders to seek alternative funding models to increase the housing supply beyond the Big Housing Build.
Statement on Planning Reform Package | Premier of Victoria
24 February 2022
CEHL applauds the Victorian Government’s proposed reforms for a new Social and Affordable Housing Contribution Fund, and especially the rate exemption for a significant number of properties on the Victorian Housing Register.
The introduction of the Contribution Fund could provide up to $800 million and deliver 1,700 new community and affordable homes each year across the Victorian community housing sector. The most immediate impact will be from the proposal to exempt community housing organisations from the payment of municipal rates on properties located in the Local Government Areas of metropolitan Melbourne and the cities of Greater Geelong, Bendigo, and Ballarat.
“The reforms are a real gamechanger for Victoria’s social housing sector and for CEHL as Australia’s largest provider of co-op housing said CEHL Managing Director Liz Thomas
“An ongoing pipeline of funds from the Contribution Fund will give all community housing providers the opportunity to create more homes for more people.”
Fully phased in, from July 2026, the proposed rates exemption will provide an annual benefit of more than $1.5 million for CEHL. Funds that would have been spent of rates can be diverted to property maintenance and improving the environmental sustainability of our housing.
The Community Housing Industry Association Victoria said the announcement demonstrates its confidence in the community housing sector to help deliver quality, secure and affordable homes over the next decade.
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