Section 173 Agreement Affordable Housing

Please include a reference to « affordable housing » in the title of the Section 173 Agreement. The Governor in the Council Ordinance (the Ordinance) is published in the Official Gazette of the Government and updated annually to determine income-based housing in accordance with the Spatial Planning and Environment Act of 1987. Note to the reader: The use of clauses and options in this document is not mandatory. All clauses and options contained in this document are examples only and have been provided to assist the parties in negotiating an affordable housing agreement. The examples given are by no means exhaustive. Users of this sample agreement are advised to modify, add, delete, and adapt this sample agreement to reflect the negotiations between the parties. In this document, the text highlighted in yellow indicates an option or field that needs to be adjusted. The inclusion of a reference to « affordable housing » in the title of the agreement under section 173 will assist the Ministry of Environment, Lands, Water and Land Use planning in monitoring affordable housing arrangements. Agreement means this Agreement and any agreement signed by the parties expressly designated as a supplement to this Agreement.

While the provision of affordable housing in Victoria remains voluntary*, we are pleased that it is being legitimized as an objective under the legislation. The changes to the law should lead to more councils proposing that developers include affordable housing in new developments, and we hope that more developers will realize this. A section 173 agreement can be entered into for a number of outcomes, including affordable housing. The amendments to the Planning and The Environment Act, 1987 (the Act), 2018 make it clear that affordable housing is a planning objective and that voluntary agreements under section 173 are entered into for this purpose. Councils are increasingly striving to strongly promote or even require affordable housing in new developments (West Melbourne Structure Plan of the City of Melbourne and Fishermans Bend discretion requirements, as well as GlenEiras Carnegie, Elsternwick and Bentleigh Structure Plans). The voluntary provision of affordable housing can be a powerful tool for negotiation, as recent agreements have been reached, notably in the Queen Victoria Market Munro, where PDG provides 15% of affordable housing (56 apartments out of a total of 360). Parties to a voluntary agreement should refer to the issues specified under section 3AA(2) – Ministerial Notice (the Notice) to determine whether the affordable housing they are negotiating is appropriate for the needs of very low-, low- and middle-income households. A copy of the notice can be found here: * Noting that Hobson`s Bay Amendment C88 for Altona City 15 has been submitted to the Minister for approval with a mandatory requirement of 5% affordable housing with an affordable 25% discount on market value in this case. After the passage of the Affordable Housing and Other Business Act in 2017 in 2017 (previously), 1. June 2018 amended the Spatial Planning and Environment Act of 1987 (the Act), which represents the first step of the state government to actively encourage the private sector to provide affordable housing through the planning system.

A competent authority (CA) must carry out its tasks in a fair and appropriate manner. A RA must first provide a strategic basis for the application for a section 173 agreement. A RA may then attempt to include a condition that requires a section 173 agreement to provide affordable housing in a building permit. A sample section 173 agreement was developed to facilitate negotiations on the provision of affordable housing. It is not mandatory to use part of the sample agreement. If the affordable housing being negotiated is social housing, parties to a voluntary agreement should refer to more information about Housing Victoria. While the amendments to the law help demystify the voluntary provision of affordable housing and support developers and relevant authorities in their negotiations, the law does not really specify how high the cost of housing should be for these categories of households. We note that it is generally accepted that housing costs should not exceed 30% of household income in order to avoid housing stress. In order to ensure the feasibility and fairness of the development, any need for affordable housing guaranteed by a planning permit condition for a section 173 agreement should be identified early and in agreement with the applicant. The RA should have evidence to support the condition to ensure that it can be defended before the VCAT in the event that the applicant makes a request for review.

In most cases, a RA is a local board, and a strategic foundation could be created in a housing strategy that identifies relevant housing needs that need to be addressed in a defined location. Parties to a voluntary agreement under section 173 on affordable housing would refer to the regulation to determine income eligibility for high individuals and households in negotiations. To support these changes, the DELWP has published guidelines for finding and negotiating affordable housing agreements, including a section 173 model agreement and examples of scenarios where this method may be appropriate. [Development means residential development in the countryside.] (b) lift towers, cooling towers, machinery and equipment spaces, auxiliary spaces and vertical air conditioning ducts; Tables 1 and 2 reflect the annual income margins resulting from the abs data on population and housing indexed to the consumer price index. H. [The Registered Housing Agency has agreed to accept ownership of affordable housing properties in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.] C. The purpose of this agreement is to implement the planning program and to achieve and advance planning objectives in Victoria. In particular, this agreement aims to facilitate the provision of affordable housing in Victoria. The salary scale for each household category (very low, low and moderate) has been published in the Official Gazette of Government and is equivalent to about 50% or less of median income, 50-80% of median income and 80-120% of median income, respectively. Two different areas have been proposed, one for greater Melbourne and the other for the rest of Victoria. (a) columns, lamellar walls, sun protection devices, awnings and any other element, projection or structure outside the general lines of the outer wall;. Lot has the meaning given to this term in the Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic).

[Optional – The following clauses may be useful if a building permit has already been issued:] If you would like to know more, please contact Mia Zar or your existing contact at Ratio. .