High-rise apartments could tower over heritage-listed inner-city homes as outer suburbs are unlocked for larger developments under a state opposition's plan to tackle the housing crisis.
Victoria's Liberal leader Jess Wilson made her party's first major housing pitch on Wednesday, announcing a plan to expand Melbourne's CBD while fast-tracking homes on the city's fringes.
The plan marked a significant departure from Labor's housing strategy, but neither was likely to move the needle on affordability, RMIT associate professor Trivess Moore said.
"Simply saying we're going to build more houses and identifying where they will be built isn't going to deliver more homes," he told AAP.
"My concern is that we also need to figure out who's going to build them."
The expanded capital city zone would cover Collingwood, Fitzroy, North Melbourne, Parkville and Fishermans Bend, allowing for increased height limits and mixed-use developments.
This would rejuvenate Melbourne's CBD as a place to live and work, Ms Wilson told the Future Victoria Summit.
"It will be done through a stepped built-form transition, with higher density closest to the CBD core and progressively scaling down toward the established neighbourhoods," she said.
The coalition pledged to cut construction red tape to fast-track tens of thousands of homes.
New housing has also been earmarked for regional centres, including Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.
"The government's focus on infill development in existing suburbs has left new growth areas neglected," Ms Wilson said.
The opposition leader also promised to hand planning and decision-making powers back to local councils.
The coalition's housing plan follows Labor's proposal to build high-rise developments of up to 20 storeys in inner-city suburbs.
Under the government's plan, announced in October 2024, 300,000 homes would be built by 2051 in areas near transport hubs, including in expensive Melbourne suburbs such as Toorak, Armadale and Brighton.
Premier Jacinta Allan criticised the coalition's policy, saying she wanted to get young people and millennials into homes everywhere.
While setting targets was an important step towards boosting supply, Dr Moore said Victorians would not reap the benefits until long-term issues plaguing the construction industry, including worker shortages, were addressed.
"We see from the evidence that it's taking longer and longer to build new housing," he said.
"It's like we're banging our heads against a brick wall trying to do the same thing time and again."
Australian Associated Press