{"id":627843,"date":"2026-04-24T12:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627843\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:31:19","slug":"affordable-housing-component-slashed-in-brunswick-and-coburg-developments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627843\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordable housing component slashed in Brunswick and Coburg developments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rachael<\/p>\n

April 24, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

Save this article for later<\/p>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n

Got it<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

A developer that branded itself the ethical alternative<\/a> to a profit-driven industry has been permitted to turn 248 promised affordable homes into market-price units, just months before completion.<\/p>\n

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny\u2019s department approved permit amendments<\/a> this week to significantly reduce the affordable housing component in Assemble Communities\u2019 developments in Brunswick<\/a> and Coburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Assemble\u2019sAssemble\u2019s new development on Victoria Street in Brunswick.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

So-called \u201caffordable\u201d housing is not social housing \u2013 which is reserved for low-income renters on the government waiting list and managed by the state (public housing) or non-profits (community housing). \u201cAffordable housing\u201d refers to private rental stock offered at a 25 per cent discount to the market rate for moderate-income earners for a set number of years only.<\/p>\n

Both Assemble sites were originally fast-tracked under the state government\u2019s Development Facilitation Program (DFP) on the proviso that 60 per cent of units would be \u201caffordable\u201d. The sites received state approval for contentious height concessions on these promises.<\/p>\n

As first revealed by The Age last month<\/a>, the change now allows the developer to scrap its signature \u201crent-to-own\u201d model \u2013 pitched as a unique home ownership pathway for young workers unable to rely on the \u201cbank of mum and dad\u201d \u2013 in favour of standard-market build-to-rent apartments, which Assemble will retain as a corporate landlord.<\/p>\n

Under the new permits, the proportion of affordable units across the 622-apartment portfolio will be dropped from 60 per cent to 20 per cent.<\/p>\n

In Brunswick, the affordable component drops from 170 units to 57. In Coburg, 203 units were planned to be affordable, and now there are just 68.<\/p>\n

Merri-bek City Council did not support the move, with its analysis finding it reduces the overall affordable housing contribution by one-third. The council argued the original 60 per cent mandate was the \u201cpublic benefit\u201d provided in exchange for height concessions that allowed the Coburg towers to go to 16 storeys \u2013 well above local guidelines.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe controversial Sydney Road development in Coburg.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

State planners rejected the council\u2019s concerns, arguing that while there are fewer affordable units, the \u201cpublic benefit\u201d is actually higher because the new plan introduces rental discounts for 10 years. Under the original model, residents paid full market rent for five years before having the option to buy their home at a locked-in price \u2013 a pathway to ownership that has now been scrapped.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Apartments<\/a><\/p>\n

Department planners explicitly referenced The Age\u2019s reporting on the request in its decision documents. While they acknowledged community concerns that commitments were being \u201cquietly\u201d reduced, they ultimately dismissed the objections. The reports noted that while the \u201creduction in the proportion of dwellings\u201d was acknowledged, the decision was made on its \u201cplanning merits\u201d and in accordance with the scheme.<\/p>\n

A Victorian government spokesperson defended the fast-track program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this program, we\u2019ve fast-tracked more than 10,000 homes \u2013 more than 2000 of these are for social and affordable housing,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The government noted that while the Development Facilitation Program required a 10 per cent affordable housing component, Assemble was still providing 20 per cent.<\/p>\n

Assemble, which is 80 per cent-owned by superannuation funds AustralianSuper and HESTA, previously branded itself as an ethical alternative to profit-driven developers. It has previously cited \u201cshifts in demand and underlying conditions\u201d for the move.<\/p>\n

An Assemble spokesperson said: \u201cWe respectfully disagree with the council\u2019s position. There will be 125 households with locked-in, below-market rents at a 25 per cent discount, while the community benefits from stable, long-term rental supply. This is a different model of affordable housing that provides new housing supply close to public transport and services. We want to see more Australians in homes and these projects are delivering that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victorian Greens housing spokeswoman Gabrielle de Vietri previously accused developers of using affordable housing as a \u201cTrojan horse\u201d to secure approvals, \u201conly to gut those commitments later to make their projects more profitable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The state opposition planning and housing spokesman David Southwick also previously told The Age that developers were using Labor\u2019s fast-track program to secure extra height and looser planning controls, \u201conly to walk away from affordable housing commitments later\u201d.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"RachaelRachael Dexter<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.dexter@theage.com.au, rachaeldexter@protonmail.com, or via Signal at @rachaeldexter.58Connect via Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 24, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-627843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}