The City of Darebin (Council) has an estimated unmet demand of 3,789 dwellings that are affordable and available for very low to low income households to rent.  Land is one of several critical elements required to address this demand.  

Council engaged Urbis to consider how it could utilise its land assets to contribute to addressing this unmet demand for Affordable Housing.

Following a holistic review of the Council’s assets through a planning, design and feasibility framework, the study identified ten confidential sites to be shortlisted for preliminary Affordable Housing analysis. From which, five sites were then progressed for refined further assessment. 

 To support Council to assess the opportunity, through a collaboration between our Design, Economic and Social Advisory, Planning and Real Estate Advisory teams, Urbis identified and analysed:

  • The legislative and State policy framework governing land disposal or lease of land;
  • Which sites owned by Council may be suitable for development as Affordable Housing;
  • Current Council assets, potential replacement requirements and impacts;
  • Preliminary planning and design analysis for identified short-listed sites to determine site potential and dwelling yield;
  • Development feasibility including indicative land value, development costs, return to Council and the subsidy gap depending on the delivery model;
  • Different options by which Council could release land and the benefits, disbenefits and considerations that inform which option may be most suitable for Council and key stakeholders.

Importantly the analysis provided clear pathways and recommendations for each of the five sites in terms of delivering Affordable Housing, as well as uncovered broader learnings and recommendations for the Council’s approach to Affordable Housing going forward.