Housing is one of the most vital elements of our community. Moonee Valley City Council is committed to creating a fair city that values diversity, where everyone feels safe, is included, is healthy and has access to services and housing.

Moonee Valley City Council is preparing a housing strategy to ensure the diverse housing needs of the community can be met. The strategy will include consideration of social and affordable housing and homelessness, and ways to ensure future growth is directed to appropriate locations supported by public transport, tree canopy and open space, shops and services.

Last year, Council's Community Advisory Panel came together to discuss what ‘a city with housing for all’ looks like. The Panel gave us 22 recommendations which we are using to inform our housing strategy.

From 10 February until 16 March 2025 we sought feedback from the broader community on housing and what’s important to them. During this time, we also connected with the community through Council’s Community Reference Groups, to make sure voices from different sections of our community are heard.

May 2025 Update:

Thank you to everyone who completed our survey, had their say in person at the Moonee Valley Festival and provided input via our reference groups. We have collated your feedback as summarised below and in the Community Consultation Report attached to this page. Council will consider these findings to inform the draft housing strategy.

The Victorian Government requires all councils to use a new model, currently in development, when preparing future housing strategies. This model is used to demonstrated that the residential zones proposed in a housing strategy provide enough capacity to meet the housing target for the council area in Plan for Victoria. As the model won’t be available until later this year, the housing strategy is likely to be completed in 2026.

Council will provide further updates on next steps as this project progresses.

  • Population and housing

    In the City of Moonee Valley, there are 126,500 people living in approximately 55,000 homes.

  • Housing types

    • Separate houses: 28,848
    • Flats or apartments: 9,940
    • Semi-detached, row, and terrace houses: 16,025

  • Public housing needs

    6,237 households on the Victorian Housing Register are seeking public housing in the Moonee Valley area.

  • Private rental affordability

    In March 2024, 1.3% of new private rentals were affordable for lower-income households.

  • Rental stress in Moonee Valley

    Rental stress means that people pay more than 30% of their income on rent. In Moonee Valley, those experiencing rental stress are:

    • 1 in 3 moderate income renters
    • 1 in 3 low income renters
    • 3 in 4 very low income renters

  • Housing tenure

    In Moonee Valley:

    • 34% of homes are owned outright
    • 31% of homes have a mortgage
    • 32% of homes are rented
    • 3% of homes are other/not stated

Stage 1 Consultation

Last year, Council's Community Advisory Panel came together to consider what ‘a city with housing for all’ looks like.

The panel made 22 recommendations to Council, which are being used to inform our housing strategy. Their recommendations can be found here.


Stage 2 Consultation

From 10 February until 16 March 2025 we sought feedback from the broader community on housing through a survey and a pop-up event at the Moonee Valley Festival. During this time, we also connected with the community through Council’s Community Reference Groups, to make sure voices from different sections of our community are heard.

Phase 2 of the housing strategy consultation achieved participation of nearly 400 community members, spanning a broad range of age groups and living situations.

While community feedback varied according to respondent’s unique housing needs, there was clear concern across cohorts to preserve what community have come to know and love about living in Moonee Valley. That is, a convenient and appealing location, with accessible services and amenities, visually pleasing, functional housing, and room to move.

While community members expressed considerable concern about negative impacts of housing development on open space, infrastructure and affordability, there was also some acknowledgement of the inevitability of the need for growth, and the capacity to do this well.

Feedback provided during this consultation will be invaluable to inform Council’s draft housing strategy, focusing on areas where Council has the most impact.


Stage 2 Key Community Consultation Findings

Below is a summary of what we heard from nearly 400 community members via our online survey, pop-up event and Council’s Community Reference Groups. This feedback is being used to inform Council’s draft housing strategy.

  • A city with housing for all

    The five most common themes identified in community feedback were:

    1. Concerns about high-rise and high-density housing
    2. Roads, traffic and parking
    3. Accessible services/facilities
    4. Affordable housing
    5. Better quality, more functional, accessible and sustainable housing design

  • Housing change priorities

    The five factors voted by community as most important for Council to prioritise were:

    1. Managing impacts on infrastructure and services (e.g. roads, car parking, drains, public transport, childcare and community facilities).
    2. Increasing trees and vegetation.
    3. Avoiding amenity impacts - overshadowing, privacy/overlooking and noise.
    4. Locating new homes in areas that support sustainable forms of transport, like public transport, cycling and walking.
    5. Quality of design and architecture.

  • Choice of residential location

    The five factors ranked most important by community when choosing a place to live were:

    1. Affordability.
    2. Close to supermarkets, shops, cafes and restaurants.
    3. Close to public transport options.
    4. Look and feel of the area.
    5. Close to parks, sporting grounds and natural areas.

  • Future housing needs

    The top five changes identified by community regarding their family's future housing needs over the next ten years were:

    1. Needs are unlikely to change much.
    2. Young people in family need affordable options to live nearby.
    3. Need a larger home for a growing family.
    4. Older people in family may need to downsize.
    5. Want to live closer to work or education.