Newstead Seniors Affordable Housing Project
Background
The Wintringham Newstead Affordable Housing project provides a 49 year lease over council land at 2A Canrobert Street Newstead. The project will provide affordable rental housing for shire residents aged 50 years and over in the heart of Newstead who are on the Victorian Housing Register’s priority waitlist.
In September 2023, the Newstead community conducted a community visioning activity which included providing more small scaled, medium density housing for retirees.
In October 2023, Councillors unanimously agreed to consult community about this affordable housing project. Community consultation occurred over a four week period and involved face-to-face meetings with community groups and stakeholder organisations, community information sessions, and online and hardcopy surveys.
In December 2023, the consultation results and the background paper on the proposed project were presented to council. Councillors unanimously agreed to allocate a 49 year lease over 2A Canrobert St Newstead for the purposes of affordable housing. Under the plan, Wintringham Housing to build, maintain and support long-term, affordable rental housing for older shire residents on the Victorian Housing Register’s priority waitlist.
Wintringham Housing is a well-established Registered Housing Agency. It has a long history of providing well-designed and secure housing for people aged 50 years and over.
Project funding
Council has been working in partnership with Wintringham Housing to find appropriate funding to finance the development.
Community consultation
As mentioned community consultation occurred in 2023 and included:
- An online poll on Shape Mount Alexander with the question “Do you support Mount Alexander Shire Council providing 49-year leases at peppercorn rates to Wintringham Housing Limited to deliver affordable housing on 10 Steele Street, Maldon and 2A Canrobert Street, Newstead?”: to understand community sentiment and draw out key concerns.
- Three face to face meetings with Newstead residents: to understand their views on a more intimate setting.
- Hard copy surveys: were also supplied and received through the Council's Civic Centre.
- Responding to direct queries: following up with private face-to-face meetings or phone calls.
- Traditional channels: receiving submissions through the post, email and phone calls.
For more information about the community consultation and the project, visit www.shape.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/affordable-housing.
FAQs
Who is Wintringham Housing?
Wintringham Housing is a not-for-profit Housing Association registered with the Victorian Registrar of Housing that builds and manages community housing across regional Victoria. They house people aged 50 years and over who meet the priority housing register requirements. Wintringham also provide the support services needed by residents, to ensure successful tenancies.
Why did council choose this site for affordable housing?
2A Canrobert St Newstead was identified as an underutilised site suitable for affordable housing development in the 2019 report by SGS Economics and Planning and through subsequent Council assessment. It was assessed as capable of delivering up to 8 two bedroom units. Council currently has no other uncommitted landholdings in Newstead suitable for affordable housing development.
What process did council use to allocate the land for affordable housing?
At its October 2023 meeting councillors agreed to undertake community consultation for a period of four weeks on its intention to enter into a 49 year lease agreement with Wintringham Housing. Council followed the Community Consultation process as outlined on our Wintringham Newstead Affordable Housing Project webpage.
An offer to conduct more face to face sessions was made to objecting members of the community. The consultation was promoted via Council’s existing Shape contact databases, local email networks, social media channels, newspapers and local posters.
Paper surveys were distributed to in-home aged care clients, and to older community members by the Newstead RTC and other community members.
Who will be living in the units?
Local people aged 50 years and over who are on the priority register of the Victorian Housing Register. Wintringham Housing is a specialist provider of housing for people aged 50 years and over.
How will the tenants be chosn?
Tenants will be selected by Wintringham Housing from local people on the priority list of the Victoria Housing Register.
What support services are provided to the tenants?
Wintringham is a provider of the national “Support at Home” program, which is personally tailored to the needs of each recipient, enabling people to stay at home, live independently for longer, and be more connected to their communities. If tenants are eligible for the program, services available include nursing, allied health, house cleaning, personal care, shopping support, social work, home maintenance and other everyday living supports.
www.wintringham.org.au/support_at_home.html
Who can apply for a unit?
Tenants are selected from the priority register of the Victorian Housing Register. If you or someone you know needs housing and is 50 years and over and not already on the priority register of the Victorian Housing Register, they will need to speak to the Dhelkaya Health Housing team on 5475 2000 and be assessed for eligibility.
Council contact
Lenka Thompson, Housing Project Officer, l.thompson@mountalexander.vic.gov.au 0492 942 820