Housing Choices Australia is working to design and implement a framework to understand and measure what broader benefits result from residents having access to safe, secure and affordable housing. Hodyl & Co worked with Housing Choices Australia to collaboratively design a unique Impact Measurement Framework that meets the needs of the people that they house and their organisation as a whole.
This work will enable Housing Choices Australia to develop an evidence-base across a range of measures to support the growth of their organisation to meet the needs of an increasing number of people needing access to affordable housing across Australia.
Macaulay Community Benefit Report
The Macaulay urban renewal area is located approximately 2 kilometers north-west of Melbourne's CBD, in close proximity to the Parkville National Employment Innovation Cluster and the Arden renewal precinct. The area was rezoned in 2018 to accommodate Melbourne's growing population. This was accompanied by the introduction of new built form controls which enable developers to exceed preferred building heights if a development delivers ‘community benefit.’ In approving the controls, the Minister for Planning identified the need for greater clarity in the definition of community benefit and to bring the implementation of this policy in line with other recent initiatives in central Melbourne planning.
The City of Melbourne has engaged Hodyl & Co to investigate the definition of ‘community benefit’ in the context of the planning scheme and to identify mechanisms through which to deliver any agreed benefits. Any recommendations needed to be deliverable within current planning legislation.
This work will review current Victorian legislation and planning mechanisms to establish an existing understanding of community benefit. It will also research best-practice models, drawing upon definitions of ‘community benefit’ from planning tools in other Australian and international cities.
This work recognises the need for a robust and agreed method of defining community benefit and a transparent and fair mechanism for delivering community benefit through development contributions or incentives.
Related Projects
Central Melbourne Built Form Review