Today, Master Builders Victoria attended a briefing with The Hon. Richard Wynne MP, Minister for Housing and Ben Rimmer, CEO of Homes Victoria, to hear more information on the formation of Homes Victoria and its work on the Big Housing Build (the $5.3 billion social housing investment announced yesterday).

This type of early engagement is a very encouraging sign for Master Builders Victoria, with consultation a key to our industry getting the best results from this investment. 

Following this briefing, all MBV members are now invited to join Homes Victoria  for a live update tomorrow 17 November at 2:30pm, where further detail on the Big Housing Build and what it means for the building and finance sector will be provided

The update will host a Q&A panel of Homes Victoria executives alongside CEO, Ben Rimmer, and Michele Morrison, Chief Development Officer.

The Live Event will start at 2.30pm on Tuesday 17 November.  

Master Builds Victoria members can join the live stream via this link: Building and Finance Broadcast 17 November

Today’s Ministerial briefing included the following points of interests:

A new entity, Homes Victoria, has been created to administer the Big Housing Build

Expressions of interest open today, including 6 ‘Fast Start Sites” that will commence immediately. Information can be found here.

The six sites are:

  • Dunlop Avenue, Ascot Vale
  • Bills Street, Hawthorn
  • Tarakan Street, Heidelberg West
  • Markham Avenue, Ashburton
  • Victoria Street, Flemington

 

Minister for Energy and Environment Lily D’Ambrosio will take on the planning element of this program (from Planning Minster, Richard Wynne)

Proportions of the homes built will be allocated to areas such as mental illness, Aboriginal communities and those affected by family violence.

Homes Victoria will develop a gender equity plan with the Office for Women and our industry to ensure jobs are created for women in the delivery of this package

As flagged yesterday, 25% of the total spend will occur regionally. While the below figures are not complete in dollar terms or regions, these are the guaranteed minimum investment commitments already made for regional areas:

  • Greater Geelong $180 million
  • Greater Bendigo $85 million
  • Ballarat $80 million
  • Latrobe $60 million
  • Greater Shepparton $45 million
  • Mildura $40 million
  • Baw Baw $35 million
  • Warrnambool $25 million
  • Wangaratta $20 million
  • Horsham $15 million
  • Swan Hill $15 million
  • Macedon Ranges $30 million
  • Mitchell $25 million
  • Bass Coast $25 million
  • Moorabool $20 million
  • Surf Coast $20 million
  • Golden Plains $15 million

 

Call to action - Fast-start projects

If you have a project ready to build, or a project that is stalled, which could be considered for fast tracking under the new Big Housing Build initiative, you can find out more information from the new Homes Victoria website here.

 

Keeping members informed

Master Builders Victoria will also seek to arrange an exclusive member briefing on the Big Housing Build initiative – keep an eye out for more details in our member communiques or via social media.