The City of Greater Geelong is committed to further community consultation as it continues to explore the potential for three parcels of land to be used for social housing.

In line with the Council’s aim of significantly increasing the availability of social housing in Greater Geelong – detailed in its Social Housing Plan 2021-41 – the City conducted an audit of all Council-owned land to identify potential sites for social housing development.

In March this year three parcels of land identified via the audit were released for community engagement:

• 116-120 Purnell Road Corio
• 5a Dean Street Belmont
• 2-14 Rollins Road Bell Post Hill (excluding 8 Rollins Road)

The City received 736 survey submissions over a six-week engagement period with a summary of the feedback available at yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/socialhousing

The submissions showed varying levels of support for the proposal across the three sites.

Many concerns centred around the lack of detail around how the sites may look if developed as social housing and how they might impact the local area.

There were also suggestions for alternative uses of the Belmont and Bell Post Hill sites.

Following consideration of the feedback the City is now proposing to partner with a community housing provider to progress potential social housing designs for each of the sites.

Director of Community Life Robyn Stevens;

No decision has been made on the future use of the three sites and that along with engaging a registered housing association the City will be seeking further consultation.

The City’s aim is to select a community housing partner and then in 2023 the community will have the opportunity to be involved in a collaborative design process.

Once this process is complete a recommendation for the future use of each of the sites will come before the Council for a decision.

Until that time the Council will not have a set position on its preferred future use of these sites.

Many people in the community were still seeking greater clarity around the proposal.

The City understands that a number of respondents found it hard to support the plans without the detail around how the three sites might look.

The community housing provider we engage to examine design options for the three sites will consult with the community and will also look at possible alternative uses.

Stable housing is vital in aiding community members to meet the challenges of life and the City has the potential to play a role in influencing housing affordability through supply of land and through responsible planning and development decisions.

All submitters have been provided with an email that links to the City website and the engagement summary report.