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Victorian Government Website (Victoria, the Place to Be)
Department of Human Services, Victoria, Australia
Office of Housing

Nation Building in practice

The Nation Building Social Housing Initiative is helping real people get on with their lives. Following are some examples of how Nation Building is working to help Victorians in need of affordable housing and the building industry. 

Nation Building kicking goals with local builders

This time last year, Holden Peel Builders had no work booked for the year ahead. 'I was asking myself, "where's the work going to come from?"', concedes company director Mick Holden.

Now, thanks in part to a local Nation Building Housing project, the family-run business has work locked in for the next 18-months, and is able to keep providing local apprentices with jobs.

'Because of this project, instead of laying blokes off we're putting two new apprentices on,' says Mick.

The Oakleigh-based business is building 48 affordable rental properties which will provide homes for elderly residents from the area who are struggling to find housing in a tight market.

Holden Peel has a history of training young carpenters and plumbers, employing 12 apprentices over its 25-year history.

The project is securing local jobs for local builders, 'all the guys that work for us are from the local area - I've coached most of them at Oakleigh Amateur footy club,' says Mick.

Mick feels that the Nation Building Housing program has already had a substantial impact on the building industry, bringing confidence after the uncertainty of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

'If you believed the press, last year it was financial Armageddon,' says Mick. 'Now developers feel good and banks are lending money again. A project we had that was frozen last year has now got the go ahead.'

School's out, housing's in

The former Ferntree Gully Primary School is undergoing a major transformation, shifting its focus from a place of learning to a place for living.

Not-for-profit housing association, Community Housing Limited (CHL), will build and manage 79 architecturally-designed units at the site.

Households, which are struggling to find affordable housing in a tight market, will call the site home following completion of the project in December 2010. The City of Knox has an undersupply of affordable housing, resulting in many local people living in housing stress.

The site contains a historic school building from the 1880's, which will be preserved and renovated as part of the project.

The site is ideally located on the corner of Burwood Highway and Dorset Road, 600 metres from the Mountain Gate Shopping Centre. At its centre will be a grassy recreation area. Other features include a small urban orchard with fruit trees, a barbecue and picnic area, a raised communal vegetable garden and a fenced playground to complement the heritage building.