Whitehorse City Council is committed to helping address housing supply while maintaining and improving local liveability and neighbourhood character.
At a meeting on Monday 2 December, 2024, Council voted in favour of making a meaningful contribution to resolving inadequate housing supply by conducting high level assessments of housing issues, current capacity and community infrastructure needed to support increased population.
Since September 2023, the Victorian Government has announced numerous planning reforms that impact the Whitehorse municipality. The reforms will support the creation of 800,000 new homes across Victoria by 2034.
Whitehorse Mayor Andrew Davenport said Council supports the development and expansion of diverse housing options and recognises the significant challenges associated with increasing housing stock.
"Council has an important role to play in ensuring Whitehorse can meet proposed housing targets, without eroding the attributes that make our municipality a great place to live," the Mayor said.
"We are facing the biggest increase in housing and population Whitehorse has ever seen, the draft target set for 2051 is more than double the number of homes we have now.
"In order to be a meaningful part of this change, Council has endorsed a commitment to determining the impact of the proposed planning reforms and to assess housing demand and supply in Whitehorse.
"Whitehorse is renowned for its liveability, resident amenity and leafy character, we want to preserve that whilst balancing the need for more homes and residents."
The Council also supported scenario modelling and illustrations around the Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham and Ringwood Activity Centres as well as a campaign to raise community awareness of the planning reforms.
As part of the resolution Council is also calling on the Victorian Government to provide specific information that it relied on to determine the catchment areas for the activity centres.
To read the Report to Council, click here.
