Statement from the Mayor
The aims of the Victorian Government's new Housing Statement are welcome, but further work is needed to avoid poor outcomes for the Mornington Peninsula.
Our unique mix of rural and urban localities and role as a major tourist destination mean a one-size-fits-all approach just won't work here.
It's crucial we get the opportunity to work closely with the Victorian Government to ensure the Peninsula community is not left significantly worse off under these reforms.
We are deeply concerned that our classification as a metropolitan council means we will miss out on many of the benefits of the reform package.
Hospitality and tourism businesses in areas such as Sorrento and Flinders are struggling to get staff due to the distance from Melbourne and the scarcity and cost of renting a home locally. Our residential rents are now significantly higher than in Melbourne and many rental properties are only available for short term holiday accommodation.
We have been advocating for some time for support for key workforce accommodation to help our hospitality and tourism businesses attract staff. However, we have been locked out of the Government's new $150 million Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.
This is deeply unfair, given the Peninsula is a significant contributor to the Victorian tourism economy and we are included in the State Government's own regional tourism statistics. Our local business operators should be able to access the Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.
Likewise, we are also locked out of the $1 billion Regional Housing Fund for new social housing, again due to our metropolitan classification. This is despite the fact we have 4000 people on our public housing waiting list and hundreds sleeping rough on our foreshore every night.
Removing the need for a planning permit for a small second dwelling or granny flat has the potential to create more affordable housing options. However, on the Peninsula these units are likely to be used as short stay accommodation. If used in this way, it will do nothing to make housing more affordable for our residents.
We need a guarantee from the Government that the use of granny flats as holiday accommodation will be banned and that these units will not be subdivided and sold off as stand-alone dwellings.
We are also disappointed at the inclusion of a new 7.5 per cent short stay accommodation levy in the new reform package. This represents a backwards step for the Peninsula.
The levy will severely impact our struggling tourism and hospitality sectors, override our current short stay rental local law and do nothing to solve our housing and rental affordability problem.
We estimate up to a third of the revenue raised by the new levy will come from the Peninsula, yet it looks likely none of the millions of dollars in revenue will be spent on local crisis accommodation or social housing for our community.
We are the 4th worst local government in Victoria for the number of homeless residents sleeping rough and that figure is growing. We need assurances that all revenue raised here stays here.
We welcome the commitment to building affordable housing on surplus government-owned land and believe some of the surplus Port of Hastings land would be ideal for this purpose.
This represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to boost our stock of affordable and social housing on the Mornington Peninsula and is an outcome we have been advocating strongly for.
We welcome the funding boost to the Victorian Homebuyer Fund, a shared equity scheme to help Victorians purchase a home. However, the maximum purchase price under the scheme is $950,000. The current median house price on the Mornington Peninsula is $1.152 million, compared to the Melbourne median of $905,000. This puts our residents at a disadvantage when trying to access this scheme.
It is still unclear what impact some of the proposed changes to the planning scheme will have on the Peninsula. Councils need to be consulted on these changes to ensure the new provisions do not result in extra costs at VCAT and a reduction in the quality of life for residents.
Our key concern is the pace of change proposed and the lack of consultation involved.
We are pleased to have the Member for Hastings Paul Mercurio represent our region as a member of the Victorian Government and look forward to working closely with him to ensure the needs of the Mornington Peninsula community are heard.
