Introduction
With the housing crisis adversely affecting the Warrnambool the community, coupled with the limited capacity of local organisations and businesses to attract essential personnel, Warrnambool City Council is developing a key worker accommodation and affordable housing project along Harrington Road.
The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) has now approved Council’s planning application under Clause 53.23, confirming the planning pathway for a modular housing development. This important milestone allows the project to move forward into the procurement phase.
Council issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) in October seeking a partner to finance, design, construct, and manage the delivery of the homes and enabling infrastructure. The EoI stage has now closed and Council will shortlist respondents who will be invited to tender, with Council aiming to award a contract in early 2026.
Background
Numerous socio-economic factors have triggered a critical housing crisis in Warrnambool. Key industries including healthcare, education, and construction, struggle to attract essential personnel, negatively affecting the community. The situation is exacerbated by over 400 long-term rentals operating as short-stay accommodation while a number of motels have closed. The following key statistics illustrate the depth of this problem:
• Rental vacancy rate - 0.8% (healthy market rate - 4%);
• Median rental price - $500 (average increase of $100 per week from 2021);
• Total rental properties as a ratio of total dwellings (18% - significantly lower than the state average - 30%);
• 1/3rd of renters facing severe rental stress due to increasing rents;
• Lack of key worker accommodation is having a negative effect on industries being able to fill positions < economic development; and,
• Lack of local presence of community housing agency to prepare shovel-ready projects for the future.
Council's 2019 Social Housing Planning document pinpointed a housing deficit of 1,430 dwellings in Warrnambool, a figure projected to rise to about 2,810 dwellings by 2036 based on current housing growth rates. Even with the record 400 building permits issued by Council in 2022, there remains an urgent need for short to medium-term solutions to alleviate the socio-economic consequences stemming from the housing shortage.
Without a swift and substantial influx of housing construction, the existing crisis will worsen. Both Council and external organisations have reported extreme difficulties in recruiting employees, primarily due to the housing shortage, especially in private rentals. This scarcity has a negative impact on the municipality's ability to attract key workers in need of affordable rental housing and also affects tertiary students. Ongoing advocacy efforts offer no assurance of housing supply through existing funding avenues, unless a shovel-ready project is introduced.
Given, the current circumstances Council has thoroughly considered strategies to tackle the housing issue in the short to medium-term by making use of land owned by either Council or the Victorian Government. While activating Victorian Government land would be a time-consuming process, there is an immediate opportunity for Council to accelerate a key worker and affordable housing development on a section of the land in Harrington Road. This land was part of the buffer zone of the former saleyards, and this approach can be pursued concurrently with the development of a master plan for the entire area.
The project
Council plans to make available 15,000sqm of land abutting Harrington Road for key worker and affordable housing.
The site can accommodate 50 self-contained homes, most likely of prefabricated modular construction, with a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom dwellings.
Check out a video of the housing concept and street layout.