Whitten Oval, Footscray, to Make Way For More Social Housing
Western Bulldogs club president David Smorgon told The Age “We think this is part and parcel of what we, as a community club, need to provide to our community, a place that has greater needs than all other parts of Melbourne”.
The proposal would be the latest in a string of new social housing developments announced in and around Melbourne recently including around Carlton, Prahran and the Melbourne CBD, where some prominent sites have been given to affordable housing groups including Victoria Street’s prominent Department of Defence Drill Hall, which was sold for $10 (ten dollars).
As well as specific public housing projects, inclusive social housing planning – where commission flats are incorporated into traditional “own your own” apartment blocks – are also becoming more popular within government planning departments.
The former 128-hectare Department of Defence Ammunition Factory in the banks of the Maribyrong River, in the inner north-west suburb of Maribyrnong, near Highpoint Shopping Centre, is earmarked for a $1 billion, 3000 dwelling redevelopment which will include about 20 per cent public housing.
