This former TAFE site will feature 10 per cent affordable apartments. The council says that’s ‘pretty pathetic’

A council in Melbourne’s inner north has lashed the state government over the paltry number of low-cost homes as part of a major redevelopment of a former TAFE campus.

Four apartment buildings are slated for the 2.2-acre block of state-owned land on The Avenue in Coburg, which has previously been used as a Kangan TAFE campus, a secondary college, and more recently by the Level Crossing Removal Authority.

An eight-storey building, a six-storey building and two five-storey buildings have been proposed for the site, totalling 274 private rented apartments. The proposal, part of the first wave of housing projects to emerge from Labor’s landmark Housing Statement last September, also includes ground floor cafes and a new park across the road.

Although Merri-bek council commended some aspects of the plan – the architectural, sustainability and disability credentials, and the new park – it has taken issue with the small amount of affordable housing offered – 10 per cent (around 27 of the 274 apartments) for moderate income earners, with a likely commitment to a 10-year period.

Moderate income earners are defined by the Planning Act as single adults earning between $47,631 and $71,450 a year, a couple with no children earning combined $71,451 to $107,170, or a family earning $100,031 to $150,030.

Council planning officers said the need in Coburg was for low and very low-income households and that what the state government was offering as affordable housing was no different to what was already being provided by the private market.

“For the offer to be a real and genuine affordable housing offer, and to be of real and genuine community benefit, it would need to address the needs of low and very low-income households (ideally at least 5 per cent), extend for a longer duration (at least 20 years),” the council officers’ recommendations read.

A low-income person in Melbourne is defined by the state government as someone earning between $29,771 to $47,630 a year, while a very low-income person is defined as someone earning up to $29,770.