An 'ethical' developer has been allowed to convert 248 promised affordable homes in Brunswick and Coburg into market‑rate apartments months before the projects finish. Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny’s department approved permit amendments that reduce the affordable share across Assemble Communities’ Brunswick and Coburg sites from 60% to 20% of a 622‑apartment portfolio, remove the rent‑to‑own option and lock in rental discounts for up to 10 years.
What changed in Brunswick and Coburg
The two projects originally carried a combined promise that 60% of units would be offered at an affordable rate. Under the permits now signed off by the planning department, that share falls to 20% across the 622 apartments. In Brunswick the affordable allocation drops from 170 units to 57; in Coburg it falls from 203 units to 68.
The reduction cuts the affordable stock promised to the local area by hundreds of homes and alters the planning trade-offs. Both sites received concessions on building height under the state’s Development Facilitation Program on the basis that taller buildings would deliver a public benefit — namely a high proportion of discounted private rental housing — a core element critics say has now changed.
How the model was reworked
Assemble had pitched a rent-to-own product as its signature offering: residents would pay market rent for an initial period then gain the option to buy at a pre-agreed price. The amended permits remove that option.
Instead, the developments will operate as build-to-rent apartments owned by the developer, with an element of discounted rent for a set period. Under the original plan residents would have paid full market rent for five years before a purchase option. The new arrangement introduces rental discounts locked in for up to 10 years, according to the planning department’s assessment of the amended permits.
The shift changes both tenure and timing: a pathway to ownership is gone, replaced by a longer but time-limited rental subsidy.
Council objections and the state response
Merri-bek City Council opposed the amendments, finding the change reduced the overall contribution of discounted housing by around one-third and arguing the 60% affordable target justified the taller towers on Sydney Road in Coburg.
State planners rejected the council’s case, saying the amended scheme locks in rental discounts for 10 years rather than offering discounts only before a purchase option after five years. The disagreement hinges on whether public benefit should be measured by the share of long-term discounted homes or by the length and certainty of shorter-term rental discounts; the planning department judged the latter the better net outcome under the revised permits.
Who stands to gain — and who loses
- Assemble: retains larger ownership and operational control and becomes a long-term landlord for a bigger slice of the portfolio.
- Prospective buyers: those expecting the rent-to-own route lose that pathway to home ownership.
- Low-to-moderate income renters: with fewer discounted units available at any one time, fewer households can access below-market rents despite discounts lasting longer.
- Merri-bek community: residents and the local council will see a different urban mix than was promised when height concessions were agreed.
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The permit changes cut the affordable share across the 622‑apartment portfolio from 60% to 20% — a loss of 248 pledged homes.
This article was created with AI assistance.
