[Edit: this lasted a matter of a few days before the government pulled the plug on it in the face of opposition form the property sector, which is bitterly disappointing. I have posted a little more about this on LinkedIn here and here.]
We finally have a social housing contribution mechanism in Victoria, with the government introducing a financial level on most new residential development that will go towards the instruction of new social housing. (See here). This is somewhat analogous to the way new development must contribute to the provision of public open space, and hence marks a shift towards seeing social housing as vital community infrastructure.
I am proud to have been a Member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee that fed into this policy process. However the real credit for this outcome goes first to those who advocated to get the MAC up as a step towards this; others on the MAC who made a much more substantive contribution than I did; and finally those who nutted out the detail afterwards. (I’m not naming names because I didn’t see enough of the process to do so fairly.)
But this is such a big deal that I’m nevertheless very proud of my small peripheral role.