With @HousingAustralia's HAFF Round 3 now open for submissions and the Mid-rise code due to come into effect in coming weeks, we’re seeing growing momentum in large-scale, mixed-tenure social and affordable housing developments. This set the stage for the first Australasian Housing Institute Victoria Site Tour of a delivered project – Bangs Street in Prahran, designed by JCB.

Delivered in early 2024 by Homes Victoria, the development comprises 228 social housing units and 206 private BTR units and was delivered for Ground Lease Model 1 (GLM1). Stakeholders included Homes Victoria, Icon and Building Communities Consortium. The project is operated by Community Housing Ltd.

The tour consisted of Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and values-aligned property developers, all interested in the delivery of social and affordable housing at scale. It commenced with an Acknowledgement of Country, an overview of the context and ways the development knits into the urban fabric. The tour started in the private block, weaved through the landscaped public realm including the community veggie gardens, explored the artwork in the Artist Studio, and concluded at the social housing resident’s community room. This provided an opportunity for the tour attendees to share lunch with the residents, catered by social enterprise The Little Social ????, and participate in a Q @ A session.

This level of engagement, and understanding of the resident’s lived-in experience, is critical in the appropriate design of the next legacy of social and affordable housing which Australia desperately needs.

Big thanks to Elvin Chatergon, Richard Wong, Tim Jackson, Graham Burrows, Ben Inman, Kate Daddo and Samantha Ace.