At the Council Meeting on Tuesday 14 April 2026, Council voted to progress the project and will be starting an Expression of Interest process to determine whether a viable affordable housing project can be built on the site.

Purpose of the consultation

Council is considering facilitating affordable housing on Council owned land off Eddy Court in Abbotsford, near Collingwood Town Hall. Under sections 114 and 115 of the Local Government Act, Council is required to undertake community engagement before considering any lease or sale of land.

Community feedback was sought to help Council to understand the community’s preference on whether to lease, sell, or do neither.

Council has resolved that if the project is to go ahead it will make the land available by way of a lease. There will be an Expression of Interest process to select a development partner who would then be responsible for the design, approvals, construction and operation of the affordable housing.

What did we ask?

• Do you support the proposed lease or sale of land located at Eddy Court in Abbotsford for the development of affordable housing?
• Which of the following options, would you prefer Council consider for the land – lease, sell, or no preference?
• Why do you support leasing the land for the development of affordable housing?
• Why do you support selling the land for the development of affordable housing?
• Why don’t you support leasing or selling the land for the development of affordable housing?
• Why are you unsure about whether you support leasing the land for the development of affordable housing?
• Do you have any comments about the proposal to use this land as affordable housing in the future?

Demographic information collected: connection to Yarra; age; gender; suburb; and diversity information.

Who did we hear from?

This engagement was conducted via a survey on the Your Say Yarra website alongside in-person pop-up events.

There were 1,629 visitors to the Your Say Yarra page, and 312 survey participants.

35 people attended our two in-person pop-up events.

Engagement Summary

Do you support the proposed lease or sale of land located at Eddy Court in Abbotsford for the development of affordable Housing?

Which of the following options, would you prefer Council consider for the land? (Only people who supported the project were asked this question)

Why do you support leasing the land for the development of affordable housing?

Top three responses were:

1. Housing affordability is an important issue to me
2. I am happy to see Council using this land for a different use to parking
3. I want people to be able to live close to where they work

Why do you support selling the land for the development of affordable housing?

Top three responses were:

1. Housing affordability is an important issue to me
2. I want people to be able to live close to where they work
3. I am happy to see Council using this land for a different use to parking

Why don’t you support leasing or selling the land for the development of affordable housing?

Top three responses were:

1. I do not think Council land assets should be leased or sold
2. I do not think Council should be involved in housing development
3. The building will be too tall

Why are you unsure about whether you support leasing the land for the development of affordable housing?

Top three responses were:

1. I need to know more about who would live in the building before I could decide
2. I need to see exactly what the building would look like before I can decide
3. I need to understand more about the legislation and process for the use of council land before I can decide

For further details read the engagement report

Learn about the next steps of the project

Visit the consultation project page