The developer who has abandoned plans to bring a much-needed affordable housing project to Warrnambool says red tape drove up the cost so much it put it out of reach of those it was designed to help.
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Emily Reid's original plan to build 74 apartments complete with a medical centre on the corner of Dales and Aberline roads was more than two years in the planning and, despite getting the backing of council officers and DEWLP, it was knocked back by councillors in December 2019
The delays in getting the project through council and the prospect of a costly VCAT appeal meant Ms Reid had to abandon plans to use the land for affordable housing and has instead resubmitted a development plan that she hopes will have a quicker path through council.
The project was scaled back to just 33 homes - a mix of single-storey and double storey houses and no apartments.
And while there were originally plans to keep a medical centre on the site, Ms Reid has now ditched the idea in the hope that the plans will be approved sooner rather than later and without a need to go to VCAT.
The land is under offer and the sale is subject to the plans passing council.
Ms Reid, a single mum, said she was passionate about affordable housing which was also eco-friendly.
She said there was not a lot out there for people like herself whose kids had left home and they didn't need a big place to live.
In rejecting the proposal, councillors labelled it "opportunistic" and more like a hotel complex than residential accommodation saying it would set an alarming precedent for the city.
"People think I'm a big developer with stacks of money. I'm not that big fat greedy developer," Ms Reid said.
She described the council's decision as really disappointing and a "devastating blow".
Appealing the decision to VCAT wasn't an option, she said, and would have increased the cost of the project so much it would have rendered the affordable housing project no longer affordable.
Ms Reid has had more success in Bendigo where after two years of working with the council her proposal to build 24 low-cost two-storey apartments there has been given the green light.
With a sale price of $199,000 for each apartment, she said with grants it could mean people could buy one of the apartments and have a loan repayment of just $150 a week - less than the cost of rent for a similar place which would be $220.
She said she already had 18 expressions of interest for the 24 apartments.
"It's really met a need in Bendigo. Warrnambool needs it as well. I tried," she said.
Ms Reid said not a lot of developers wanted to touch the affordable housing space because the process took so long and the costs kept adding up, making it even harder to keep properties affordable for buyers.
When she was first looking to buy the Dales Road block she approached the council about what it wanted to see there.
Using the council's own North East Warrnambool Housing Strategy, which highlights the city's need for smaller affordable housing, aged care and medical facilities, she came up with the development plan.
"The whole medical centre came about because of the needs of the community," she said.
"It was such a devastating blow. It was basically two years going through basically giving them what they wanted.
"The big story is the amount of time and legislation. You're trying to produce affordable housing but two years with holding costs kills it.
"You are trying to keep things affordable but you can't keep things affordable when the costs go through the roof because council's really slow."
Ms Reid said the community needed and wanted affordable housing but there was a "not in my backyard" mentality.
"It's such a huge need, the government doesn't have enough money to do it themselves and they do need the private developers to come in and have a model that works, and that's the model we were trying to get through," she said.
"As soon as you put VCAT in, it's not affordable anymore. People have to realise you have interest and holding costs that keep on accumulating, then all of a sudden the project that was affordable is no longer affordable."
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