City of Greater Bendigo regional sustainable development manager Trevor Budge addressed more than 40 representatives from organisations interested in social and affordable housing during a forum at The Capital on Tuesday.

In his 25-minute speech, Mr Budge detailed some of the options the council was considering in relation to housing stress.

He said a proposal to generate and store renewable energy using groundwater in Bendigo’s disused mine shafts could generate social dividend, which might help fund social and affordable housing projects.

Savings made by generating and storing electricity locally accounted for the possible profits.

Mr Budge said transmitting electricity from the Latrobe Valley used resources.

Attendees at Tuesday’s forum were told the council might save 15 – 20 percent if transmission was no longer part of the process – savings that could translate into millions of dollars.

“What could we do with the social dividend?” Mr Budge said.

He suggested social and affordable housing was one area in which the council could invest.

Results of an initial $150,000 feasibility study into the pumped hydro electricity project, co-funded by the state government and the council, were positive.

Mr Budge said the city was examining how it could take the project, which would cost $50 million to create, to the next level.

The initial study concluded there was a need for a further, in-depth study.

BENDIGO’S housing gap is clearly identified, Birchgrove Property managing director Damien Tangey said.

“Eighty-five per cent of our product is three or four bedroom detached housing.

“Sixty-five per cent of our households are two person or less.

“So there’s a significant gap and a significant need for a whole range of new and more diverse products, rather than the conventional housing we still produce today.”

The need for a greater breadth of housing in Bendigo is well known, both to residents and to local government.

Tuesday’s forum was intended to inform a housing strategy the Bendigo council is developing, with particular emphasis on social and affordable accommodation.

Compass Housing Services last week released a report stating housing affordability had deteriorated at “an extraordinary rate” in the past two decades.

It revealed Bendigo was becoming less affordable for renters, consuming about 27 per cent of household budgets.

A household is technically considered to be experiencing housing stress when keeping a roof over its head takes up 30 per cent of its budget.

Bendigo tenants are paying an average of $280 in rent per week.

According to the Rental Affordability Index, Bendigo is ‘severely unaffordable’ for single pensioners, and ‘extremely unaffordable’ for a single person receiving Centrelink payments.

Single parents working part-time or on Centrelink are also priced out of the private rental market, and pensioner couples would need to spend at least a quarter of their household income on rent.

Mr Tangey said developers were addressing the need for a variety of housing in Bendigo, over time.

“But everything we do in development is a medium-term enterprise, so it takes time to demonstrate that on the ground,” he said.

Mr Budge cited one of Birchgrove Property’s projects – Lansell Crest, in East Bendigo – during Tuesday’s forum while discussing the need for community understanding and acceptance of the need for a more diverse range of housing options.

Plans to build 104 units on a 2.6 hectare site at Lansell Street were referred to a state government planning panel, which found that limiting the number of dwellings in the planning overlay would be “inconsistent with the residential policies that apply to the site and is unnecessary in light of the other planning scheme provisions that are adequate to manage its development”.

The development, Bendigo’s first large-scale, medium-density housing project, was approved by planning minister Richard Wynne in January.

“The development industry will play an important role in the delivery of affordable and social housing over time in key regional cities,” Mr Tangey said.

“To do that, we need a good level of innovation and a good level of community understanding and acceptance of new products.”

Legislative changes surrounding affordable housing mean local governments have the capacity to negotiate with developers to include affordable options in developments, if they so choose. Mr Tangey was positive about the role councils could play in advocating for affordable housing.

“I think they’ll find good options there – that relates to which suburb white site and what the issues are around that, and also the community perceptions of that, as well,” he said.

He was not supportive of a specified percentage of developments being allocated to affordable options.

“Mandatory inclusions provide minimum-standard results,” Mr Tangey said.

“You’re better off to innovate and find a result that suits that site and the community.”

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