The Bass Coast Shire is home to more than 40,000 residents and is visited by thousands of people each year. Unfortunately, it has become harder and harder for many residents to find a safe, secure and affordable place to live. This impacts on their ability to participate in the local community and local economy. It makes it difficult for them to maintain employment, to attend school or other education, and to stay well.

There is a clear and immediate need for additional affordable housing in the Bass Coast. The Bass Coast Housing Story report found that the current amount and configuration of social and affordable housing in Bass Coast does not match local need. The report estimated that there are 733 households in Bass Coast in need of Affordable Housing. This represents 5.1 per cent of all households in the Shire.

Of the 693 applications on the Victorian Housing Register in March 2021, 424 were for one-bedroom dwellings. This reflects feedback from housing and service providers that there is a significant demand for single-person households.

Middle aged women, are the fastest growing cohort of homeless Australians. It is likely this trend will continue given the ongoing shortage of affordable housing, the ageing population and the significant gap in wealth accumulation between men and women across their lifetimes. In addition, family violence makes a substantial contribution to the risk and the prevalence of homelessness for women. In Bass Coast, there were 739 incidents of Family Violence in 2019/20 which was a 32.3% increase in incidents on the previous year.

Bass Coast Council recognises within our municipality the greatest need is for:

  • Emergency, transitional and social housing
  • Support services to help people access and sustain housing
  • Local housing for local people

There is a demand for emergency, transitional, and social housing. It is important to increase the amount social housing hand-in-hand with an increase in the amount of emergency housing so that people can move out of emergency accommodation into safe, secure, long-term affordable housing.

To ensure that affordable housing tenants have access to the services that many people need, and to avoid issues of social isolation, and transport poverty, affordable housing should be located:

  • In townships with well-established services (health, education, shops)
  • Close to the town centre to be within walking distance to services (preferably)
  • Accessible to public transport

For Bass Coast this means locating affordable housing in Cowes and Wonthaggi, and potentially in Grantville, Inverloch, and San Remo too.

Council seeks funding to match the State Government’s commitment of a minimum of $25 million to housing associations, increasing the provision of affordable housing in Bass Coast.

We support changes to taxation structures and incentives to deliver affordable housing across the whole housing spectrum.