Rooming house granted permit despite drug fears

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A rooming house has permission to go ahead in an inner-Melbourne area well known for drug-related issues, despite Yarra Council’s refusal to issue a permit due to fears about the behaviour of potential tenants.

In a VCAT ruling released on Tuesday, tribunal member Christopher Harty directed that a permit be issued for the rooming house in the Victorian-era State Savings Bank building on the corner of Victoria and Hoddle streets in Abbotsford.

The former State Savings Bank building at 231 Victoria Street – the site of the proposed rooming house.

The ruling cut the proposed capacity from 17 rooms for 17 residents to 13 single rooms, to address “poor amenity” concerns.

It follows a council showdown last June during which five independent councillors broke ranks with their own planning officers —who recommended approval— and their mayor to block the project in the 1884 Italianate palazzo-style building, which has been derelict for years and targeted by vandals and squatters.

At the time, Labor Deputy Mayor Sarah McKenzie slammed her colleagues, calling the decision “about prejudice and NIMBYism” in a housing crisis.

Local objectors and the five councillors argued the site was inappropriate due to its proximity to the North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room. They expressed concerns that the facility would attract vulnerable people and contribute to a decline in social behaviour in the already troubled Victoria Street area.

However, Harty found these concerns were not relevant planning considerations.

“The status of potential residents in the rooming house and their behaviour and actions are not relevant planning matters and are not possible to be controlled by the planning system,” he wrote in his decision.

Local objector Christine Maynard, who was represented in the tribunal, dismissed this, saying the VCAT member didn’t appreciate the reality of life in the area.

“Do you really think Victoria Street needs a rooming house for junkies and homeless people?” she said.

The proposal had the backing of advocates including Fiona Patten, a former state MP and chair of the state’s 2021 inquiry into homelessness, and local Judy Ryan, secretary of Victoria Street Drug Solutions, who spearheaded the push for the nearby safe injecting room.

“[I’m] delighted with the outcome,” Ryan said, adding a rooming house “complements Yarra’s vision for housing and is sorely needed in our community”.

Despite the win, the project’s future remains uncertain. While the developer’s representative, architect John Chow, welcomed the ruling going his way, he said the tribunal’s 13-resident limit was too onerous.

“Thirteen rooms is ridiculous,” Chow said. “The owner is bleeding [money] ... It’s becoming unviable for him to continue housing because of all the [land] taxes”. He suggested the owners – one of whom resides in Singapore – might now sell the site with its new permit or seek a higher-density commercial redevelopment.

Maynard also dismissed the result as a dead end, describing the building as a “dump” that would cost more than $1 million to bring up to safety standards.

“I’m not really concerned about the permit, to be completely honest,” she said. “It’ll be too much money.”

The developer has two years to commence the project before the permit expires.

If the rooming house does go ahead, the tribunal has imposed strict conditions: several small bedrooms must be merged to meet floor-area standards and secure natural light, and an outdoor car parking space must be converted into a communal outdoor area for residents. As well as this, there must be an on-site manager at all times with a 24-hour contact number displayed on the front door for neighbours to register complaints.

Local Richmond resident Judy Ryan (left) and ex-MP Fiona Patten inspect the former bank building.

During the council vote last June, independent councillors Evangeline Aston, Andrew Davies, Kenneth Gomez, Sharon Harrison and Meca Ho all voted against the proposal, while Mayor Stephen Jolly, McKenzie and Greens councillor Sophie Wade voted in favour.

In a rare move, Jolly broke with “Yarra For All” independent colleagues, who make up a dominant block of five on the council, and foreshadowed the permit was likely to receive approval at VCAT given the council’s planning officers had deemed the project technically allowed.

A Yarra City Council spokesperson said the council respected the decision of the tribunal. The spokesperson did not reveal the cost to ratepayers for legal counsel to appear at VCAT, saying only that it fell within the council’s legal budget.

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