Apollo Bay locals petitioning to stop auction of former kindergarten site want affordable housing instead

Residents of a coastal Victorian tourist town struggling with a dire shortage of affordable housing are rallying after the local council decided to auction off a prime block of land. 

Key points:

Nearly 1,000 people — more than half the population of Apollo Bay — have signed a petition calling for Colac Otway Shire Council to reverse its decision to sell a former kindergarten site. 

The property at 69 McLachlan Street has a long community history, with residents raising funds to purchase the land and set up a preschool in the 1950s.

The committee sold the land to the council, but continued to operate the preschool at its own cost. 

Now residents are fighting for the property to be retained for community benefit, and are calling for the site to be repurposed for social and affordable housing. 

Community invested  

The Apollo Bay Pre-School operated at the site until the beginning of 2022, when the kindergarten moved to a newly built site at Apollo Bay P-12 College, funded by the state government.

Children at the Apollo Bay Preschool on McLachlan Street in 2019.(Supplied: Apollo Bay Community Voice)

Councillors voted to sell the former preschool site last year, and in August of this year gave notice of their intention to sell the property at auction. 

Mayor Chris Potter said the sale would recoup funds invested in the maternal and child health component of the new kindergarten site, and fund much-needed childcare services for the town. 

The council’s decision to sell at auction was made after Homes Victoria declined its offer to sell the property for affordable housing last year. 

Jane Gross, president of the Apollo Bay Community Voice group, organised the petition calling for the property to be retained for community use.

Apollo Bay residents rally against Colac Otway Shire Council’s decision to sell the former kindergarten site at 69 McLachlan Street.(Supplied: Great Ocean Photography)

It was presented to council with 917 signatures.

“We don’t want council selling the property because it doesn’t prioritise the best outcomes for our community and future generations,” Ms Gross said. 

“By council’s own admission, they only own very few properties in Apollo Bay and this is one that is vacant and … could allow for some social housing.” 

Read more on Australia’s housing market:

Ms Gross said the community’s connection to the site meant residents were invested in its future. 

“Most councils you talk to see land as the most valuable asset they have and they have so little of it here that it seems to me it should be a last resort to sell off land,” she said.

“If you don’t really need to sell it off, you should be using it for the community.” 

Dire housing shortages 

A Colac Otway Shire Council study recently found a need for at least 340 new social housing properties in the shire. 

The Victorian government last week announced 50 new social and affordable homes would be built in Colac, the shire’s biggest town, under the government’s new $1 billion Regional Housing Fund. 

Apollo Bay’s housing shortage makes hiring new staff difficult for local businesses.(ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)

Cr Potter said this was exciting news, but the council would continue advocating for Homes Victoria to invest in Apollo Bay where housing shortages were also dire. 

On Friday, there were just five properties available for rent in Apollo Bay on realestate.com.au, with four of those described as holiday rentals. 

The listings included a three-bedroom holiday house for $3,500 per week and a two-bedroom flat with one bathroom for $500 per week, available for a 12-month lease. 

Apollo Bay is a popular tourist destination in the summer months.(Wikimedia commons: Alex Proimos, CC BY 2.0 DEED)

Ms Gross said even if the former kindergarten site could not be used for social housing, it could be used for other much-needed community assets, such as an arts or senior citizens hub. 

Cr Potter told the ABC no action would be taken on the land sale until the community petition was addressed at the next council meeting in October.

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