As more people choose to call Yarra home, housing growth needs to be planned and managed in a way that maintains the city’s key characteristics, liveability and creates additional benefits, including increased supply of affordable housing and greater choice and diversity of housing.

The housing policies in Amendment C269 implement our Housing Strategy and includes three local policies:

Housing Diversity

The Housing Diversity policy promotes diverse housing for families and share households to offer better housing choices.

Affordable Housing

The Affordable Housing policy facilitates the provision of new and upgraded public and affordable housing.

It seeks the provision of well-designed affordable housing within new development.

Location of residential development

The Location of Residential Development Policy introduces a hierarchy of minimal, incremental, moderate and high change areas for housing growth.

Change areas

The housing change areas are a representation of the level of growth anticipated across Yarra. Our Housing Strategy outlined a hierarchy of housing change areas for residential land in Yarra. The housing change areas are based on:

  • current and proposed zone and overlay requirements
  • context
  • land attributes
  • strategic planning work
  • capacity
  • community feedback.

These change areas are organised from lowest change to highest change in the following order:

  • minimal
  • incremental
  • moderate
  • high.

These are residential areas that have limited capacity to accommodate future housing growth over time. Minimal change areas usually have one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They are within established residential areas (Neighbourhood Residential Zone) that have heritage significance.
  • Have consistent fine-grain subdivision pattern and small lot sizes.
  • Have detached and dual occupancy dwellings.

Minimal change areas apply to over 58% of Yarra’s residential land.

This change area would continue to accommodate one or two dwellings on typically small individual lots.

Areas that have the capacity to accommodate more modest level of housing growth over time. Incremental change areas generally display one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They are within established residential areas (General Residential Zone).
  • They are within mixed use and commercial areas that have heritage significance, including cohesive and highly intact heritage streetscapes and buildings.
  • Have consistent fine-grain subdivision pattern and small lot sizes.
  • Have detached, dual occupancy and smaller scale apartment dwellings.

Incremental change areas make up over 21% of Yarra’s residential land.

It is expected that this change area would gradually evolve over time, accommodating single or town house type housing on individual lots or smaller scale apartment development.

Areas that have the capacity to accommodate moderate housing growth over time. Moderate change areas generally display one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They are within or close to activity centres that have heritage significance, sensitive interfaces and other site constraints.
  • Have excellent access to services, open space and public transport.
  • Have mixed lot sizes.

Moderate change apply to over 12% of Yarra’s residential land.

This change area would accommodate medium density residential and mixed use development in the form of apartment buildings that respond to heritage significance and streetscape character.

Areas and sites that have capacity to accommodate substantial housing growth over time. High change areas generally display one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They are within or close to activity centres that do not have site constraints.
  • Have excellent access to services, open space and public transport.
  • Have large lot sizes.

High change areas are proposed to apply to over 8% of Yarra’s residential land.

This change area would accommodate higher density residential and mixed use development in the form of apartment buildings.

Learn more about the housing policies

The video below explains the housing policies in more detail, or you can watch all of our information videos on Amendment C269.