By Gerald Lynch
A Brimbank councillor has labelled the state government’s draft 2051 housing targets as “a little daunting”.
Last week, the state government announced that Brimbank will swell by another 72,000 new homes by the middle of the century, as per its proposed 2051 housing target.
Under the draft plan, two million homes would be built in metropolitan Melbourne and another almost 500,000 spread across the regions.
Speaking at a council meeting on June 18, councillor Bruce Lancashire said the situation of housing has become quite complex, and the 2051 proposal looms as a little daunting.
“There’s currently about 72,000 dwellings in Brimbank. It’s taken us about 150 years to get that level of dwellings,” he said.
“We’re being told we’ve got 25 years to double it.
“Just a short time ago we talked about constraints on local government with funding … It looks a bit like shifting the responsibility to local government.
“Some serious work will need to be done … We will approach this and give it a good crack at trying to achieve these things, but we certainly need a lot more support from the state government.”
Premier Jacinta Allan said Victoria has the largest annual population growth of all Australian states and needs more than two million additional homes by the 2050s.
“There are parts of our city that have been locked up for too long,“ Ms Allan told said.
The draft council housing targets are largely based on access to jobs, transport and services, the government said.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto claimed the idea of issuing the projections couldn’t be taken seriously.
“It’s taxing the life out of investment in residential construction,“ he said.
The final council housing targets will be released by the end of 2024 following local government consultation.
The DTP was contacted for comment.
– with AAP
