The current shortfall of social and affordable rental housing in the municipality has estimated  in 2016, 9,400 households were in need of affordable rental homes and emergency housing in the City of Melbourne. This is significantly higher than the 3,900 social and affordable homes that existed within the municipality at that time. The supply of affordable housing represents just 6 percent of all housing in the municipality and demand for social and affordable housing is expected to approximately 27,100 people in need of social and affordable housing, and 1,400 people are estimated to be in need of emergency housing. The 5.8 percent of all new privately constructed dwellings in the municipality may be affordable houses and an additional 250 new affordable dwellings would be built by the Victorian and Australian governments. It would be 5,200  new houses. They believed that Housing is an essential infrastructure for the city and is vital to the functioning of society and the economy. Victoria’s 30-Year Strategy (2017) identifies investment in affordable housing for vulnerable Victorians.

The focus of this Strategy is on increasing the supply of affordable rental housing in the City of Melbourne which can be developed and managed through registered community housing organisations. Rental housing is more accessible than ownership for those in need, it serves them for the length of time they need it, and can be retained to help others in the long term. The Strategy also outlines how we will best focus our advocacy efforts to enable change more broadly across the social housing and private rental market. The City of Melbourne is committed to being a city for people. We are inclusive, we care for our most vulnerable and we know that the availability of safe, affordable, quality homes with secure tenure supports the health and well being of our community. As set out in the table below, we have identified four priorities to address the crisis, with ten corresponding actions and two policies.