Housing choice is a key goal of the Victoria Housing Strategy and vital to ensuring that residents can stay in Victoria as they move through the stages of life. The following initiatives were created to help Victoria families overcome the difficulties of finding housing that meets their needs.
Family Housing Policy
The Family Housing Policy, which came into effect September 2024, sets minimum two-and three-bedroom unit targets for new rental and condo buildings. This policy aims to increase the availability of family-suitable homes, aligning with Victoria's family housing priorities and helping to meet the City's housing targets. Council will evaluate relevant rezoning applications on a case-by-case basis.
Policy Specifics
All applications for new multi-unit residential developments consisting of four or more storeys should meet the following requirements:
- Strata (ownership): A minimum of 30 per cent of total units must have two or more bedrooms, with a minimum of 10 per cent of total units containing three or more bedrooms.
- Rentals: A minimum of 25 per cent of total units must have two or more bedrooms, with a minimum of five per cent of total units containing three or more bedrooms.
Advisory Design Guidelines for Family-Friendly Homes and Spaces
The Advisory Design Guidelines for Family-Friendly Homes and Spaces offers best practices for family-friendly planning and design of residential buildings and spaces. A set of five overarching principles inform the guidelines:
- Living, growing, family-forming and aging in place: Provide a variety of homes in new residential development to enable growth and change in households over time. Design homes for flexible daily use as well as through various life stages.
- Places for intergenerational social interaction: Design common spaces to accommodate people of all ages, physical abilities, sexualities, gender identities, household or family structures and backgrounds.
- Inclusive design: Design common spaces to accommodate people of all ages, physical abilities, sexualities, gender identities, household or family structures and backgrounds.
- Different common spaces for a broad range of activities and play: Design family-friendly common spaces including areas for recreation and play to provide opportunities for different play styles and levels of social interaction. Approach the planning and design of common spaces with the assumption that that they can become places of play for children, adults and in some cases, pets.
- Design for livability: Provide a variety of homes designed for flexible daily use and for change over time. Ensure access to light and air throughout the day and year. Build with safe, durable and easy-to-clean building materials and components. Provide safe and easy-to-maintain planting. Enable storage for daily and seasonal needs.