Affordable housing for young people employed in the City of Melbourne

Young people bring colour and vitality to a city. In its Vision Statement for young people, Melbourne City Council envisaged that the City of Melbourne ‘will be recognised as a city where young people participate, contribute and enjoy life in a safe and welcoming environment’. Housing generally in the City of Melbourne poses difficulties for many households. Some young people on very low incomes, particularly those who are homeless, may gain access to social housing, particularly public housing. Melbourne Affordable Housing, which is sponsored and funded by the Council, also plays a role in providing housing to low to middle income households. However, young workers are not a particular target group for the Office of Housing, and at this stage are not a particular target group for Melbourne Affordable Housing. The City of Melbourne has engaged Swinburne Institute for Social Research to assess the availability of affordable housing for young people employed in the CBD, Docklands and Southbank.1 The City of Melbourne’s resident population is just under 50,000, with another 460,000 coming to the CBD every day to work, shop, conduct a variety of business and cultural activities and to be entertained. The population is characterised by cultural diversity and a strong presence of young people. At Census date 2001, of the 172,000 people working in the CBD, Southbank and Docklands, 28,000 (nearly one in six) were young workers. The City Council in its various reports has highlighted its concern and interest about the provision of housing for young people living and working in the CBD, Southbank and Docklands, and in finding ways of making this affordable and accessible for them. This report on ‘Affordable housing for young people employed in the City of Melbourne’ consists of two volumes: Volume I is this summary report; Volume II is a Technical Report and contains extensive tables. Volume I provides a summary of the key findings and refers the reader to Volume II for more detailed analysis. The structure of both reports is divided into three parts as follows. Part A provides a profile of young workers in the Melbourne Inner (CBD) and Southbank- Docklands Statistical Local Areas. Part B provides an analysis of housing affordability for young workers according to major occupational groups, more detailed occupations and income bands. It also compares the cost of renting in the City of Melbourne with the total cost of renting and travelling to work from suburban Melbourne. Part C reports on our search for current models of housing for young inner city workers that may be of interest to Melbourne City Council.