Goya Dmytryshchak
Maribyrnong’s mayor says the council has brokered a deal with housing provider Unison that could enable social housing to go ahead at a Seddon site.
As reported by Star Weekly, Maribyrnong council had refused Unison’s proposal to use student accommodation at 69-79 Buckley Street for affordable/social housing.
The proposal was refused on several grounds, including “unacceptably high concentration of social and affordable housing in the area” and “adverse amenity impacts to surrounding properties”.
The planning application received 21 objections from 14 properties while a petition supporting the proposal gained 119 signatures.
One objector, David Vasudevan, said residents were not against social housing but “the level of concentration” in the area.
He said last year there were 44 ambulance call-outs in the immediate area and “kids have been witnessing fights, arguments, police and ambulance call-outs”.
Unison has lodged an appeal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a bid to overturn the decision.
However, Maribyrnong mayor Michael Clarke said Unison had since been receptive to having a concierge/security arrangement onsite three days a week, paving the way for the council to approve new plans.
New plans are expected to go before a council meeting on Tuesday night and are understood to have other councillors’ support.
“Essentially, it’s a recapitulation of the original proposal,” Cr Clarke said.
“Unison propose to put in security from 6-10pm for three days a week – Thursday, Friday, Saturday – and that will be for two years, and we’re asking that that be reviewed after two years.”
Cr Clarke said the deal was a “remarkable outcome and it’s a precedent”.
“What it shows is that council can use its planning scheme to affect really positive outcomes for, particularly, those residents who are living in congregate care social housing,” he said.
“It gives councils all over this state a pretext for putting in place conditions that demand that the social housing providers actually put in appropriate social supports to assist the health and wellbeing of their client group.
“It’s unprecedented. It’s an enormous step forward for those residents in congregate care social housing.”
Cr Clarke said the move was also a win for surrounding residents who had been concerned about adverse amenity.
Unison declined to comment.
