A compassionate Yarra Ranges resident has put forward a plea to Yarra Ranges Council to find a solution regarding using second homes, such as caravans, as a remedy for the housing crisis.
Warburton’s Ivor Wolstencroft spoke at the Tuesday 27 May Council meeting and compared the plight of the homeless to the 41 miners trapped in the Uttarakhand tunnel in 2023 that were rescued by Monbulk resident Professor Arnold Dix, who Mr Wolstencroft recently met.
Mr Wolstencroft said he wanted to start by introducing his friend Charlie, a woman of a similar age to him who lives in a caravan at the Warburton Holiday Park.
“About ten years ago, Charlie experienced an act of kindness, the new owners, David and Simon, instead of kicking the long-term residents out, gave each of the residents a long-term lease, I’m sure that these new leases were not given because of a profit motive, but they were given a lease that looked after the residents,”
“All they feared that was about to happen, awful rumours had abounded at that time, did not happen, it was an act of kindness, let’s turn the clock now on ten years, and suppose Charlie has a sister, Linda, who is in the same situation as Charlie was ten years ago, single, financially vulnerable, but now the caravan park is full,”
“I have a caravan in my backyard, but because it doesn’t meet the building code for a second home, I cannot let Linda stay with me, so today, the Shire of Yarra Ranges allows residents to live in a caravan park in accommodation that doesn’t meet the building code, but doesn’t allow a resident to live in the same van in a backyard in our Shire and remember, we have a housing crisis with record low-vent rental vacancy rates.”
In a presentation provided to Yarra Ranges Council and the Star Mail, Mr Wolstencroft estimated using council data for registered caravans, population of the shire and the average household size in Greater Melbourne, that if even a quarter of the caravans in the Yarra Ranges could be used for short-term accommodation, as many as 3000 people could have somewhere to live. Mr Wolstencroft compared this to the proposed Cerini Centre Affordable Social Housing Project in Warburton, which he also supports, which would house about 30 people at a time.
Mr Wolstencroft said he thinks we are in a situation akin to the 41 miners and the miners were saved not because Arnold Dix knew the solution, but because his team struggled with all the variables, failed repeatedly, but finally won.
“Thus far I’ve concluded it is all about legal advice…Last Thursday when I had a meeting with Council staff, I was told that the Council legal advisers had said that the proposal that I brought forward could not succeed because the proposed term, that is a three-year permit, would not be considered temporary in law,” she said.
“Professor Dix talks about kindness, and I’ve seen that abundantly in this chamber and in Council staff, we need kindness plus expertise, legal expertise and 41 miners, code for the homeless and those seeking affordable rentals, are needing rescue,”
“This is urgent, but just like mine rescue, it has to be done carefully, please review Professor Dix’s presentation, it gives me hope, and I hope we can enlist the support of the best legal brains of the land to help us act wisely and give council the legal basis it needs to act, tomorrow if not sooner.”
Professor Dix also provided a supporting presentation for Mr Wolstencroft.
In Mr Wolstencroft’s presentation, he proposes:
Allow for caravans to be used as accommodation for 6 months
Longer-term use of Caravans to be allowed, subject to the rental vacancy rate in the Shire eg: if the vacancy rate hits 2.5 per cent, licenses for long-term caravan housing are not available
Caravans for long-term use must be registered, with an annual fee applying and licenses being temporary (Mr Wolstencroft suggested three years but admits one year might be more suitable for a pilot project)
$150.
Licenses are limited to one per title
Caravans must be behind the building line and any exceptions are subject to approval
Once the rental vacancy rate in the previous 12 months falls to an acceptable level, no licenses are then available and the use of caravans reverts to the standard three-month rule for using a caravan as a dwelling on private property
Proposes that triggers for licenses could be implemented based on the vacancy rate eg: three-year licenses available at 0.5 per cent, two-year at one per cent and one-year at 1.5 per cent.
Walling Ward Councillor Len Cox OAM said it ‘rings like very good advice’ to him and Billanook Ward Councillor Tim Heenan also spoke.
“I’ll echo that too, when every winter comes around, it weighs heavily on me, those people that have not got a roof over their head, there’s enormous frustration on not being able to make things work in the way we should in Yarra Ranges,” Cr Heenan said.
“I know that what you presented tonight has got complications, obviously, but probably tonight’s not the night to talk about it, but I don’t think it will go on deaf ears either, I think we’ll have a fair dinkum chat about that at another time.”
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child requested that the council’s governance team and Director of Communities to liaise with Mr Wolstencroft in regards to his request with a view to ‘come back to an appropriate forum to discuss that outcome.’
