A car park in North Melbourne has won out over a proposed affordable housing project, despite a shortfall of 6,000 affordable homes in the Melbourne city municipality.
The city council on Tuesday evening shelved plans to convert the Curzon Street car park into affordable homes due to concerns over the loss of parking space.
The council’s budget, released earlier this year, included plans to build affordable housing on two council-owned car parks in North Melbourne and West Melbourne. But councillors voted unanimously at a meeting to pause plans to transform the North Melbourne car park into housing, while proceeding with the proposal at the West Melbourne site.
Councillor Dr Olivia Ball told the meeting open-air car parking was a “poor use of prime real estate in the inner city”.
“We’re keen to see this project progress towards our ambitions of genuinely more affordable quality housing in the inner-city.
“We are in a housing crisis and an inequality crisis … we are thousands of houses short of those that are needed for our municipality.”
Last year, the council calculated there was a shortfall of 6,000 affordable homes across the city.
The lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, told the council meeting there were concerns within the community about the proposal but said council would “keep the wheels” turning in affordable housing investment.
Jo Cannington, the director of Homes Melbourne, a council team working to reduce homelessness and create affordable housing in the city, told Tuesday’s meeting that management’s recommendation to defer consideration of the North Melbourne site would minimise the impact of losing both car parks at once.
She said all studies undertaken by council, including an independent peer review, had concluded there was capacity in the car park network to accommodate the loss of parking space at both sites.
But she said the studies found at the North Melbourne site it would be challenging to find replacement all-day parking in the vicinity.
Sophie Jordan, the council’s manager of affordable housing, said a survey for the affordable housing project at both sites found almost 51% of respondents supported affordable housing across both sites. She said there was also a petition with 156 signatures which opposed the development.
Councillors also voted to ensure the council receives feedback from the community regarding car parking challenges in the area as part of regular car parking reviews for North and West Melbourne.
The plan earmarked two sites – 44-60 Curzon Street, North Melbourne and 325-341 Victoria Street, West Melbourne – for an affordable housing project.
A report to council said the plan to convert council-owned land to housing set a target of creating 100 affordable housing units by June 2025.
Council will commence a tender process to partner with a community housing provider to build, lease and manage the project at the West Melbourne site.
