Did you know a single car park can add up to $70k to the cost of a new home? This is why the Victorian Government just made a massive change: they’ve scrapped mandatory parking minimums for homes near good public transport 👇

It's been a big year for YIMBY Melbourne and we couldn't have done it without your support → ✅ 3 research notes ✅ 11 events\workshops ✅ 50+ media appearances ✅ And many advocacy wins We wish you all a happy New Year!

New Research → Building more homes reduces displacement

Merry Christmas from the YIMBY Melbourne team 🎄

A NIMBY group in Thornbury claims they want “fair” growth, but their plan is anything but fair →

Restricting higher-density housing leads to ❌Less homes ❌Higher prices ❌More segregation 🧵

New apartments & townhouses are cheaper than the old detached houses they replace. We should allow cheaper housing options to be built where people want to live.

New research suggests restricting higher-density housing leads to → ❌Less homes ❌Higher prices ❌More segregation

PRESS RELEASE → Reducing parking mandates and standardising levies is a good step forward 🧵

Another day, another report saying that we need to upzone to improve housing affordability. It's time for policy makers to listen to the experts and get on with the job!

Melbourne is LESS dense than Los Angeles. If Melbourne were as dense as LA within the first 15km, we’d have an extra 431,000 homes!

The evidence overwhelmingly says that planning reforms lead to more and cheaper housing. 🧵

In 1999, it took 55 days to get a permit for 10 dwellings. In 2025, it took 302 days. These delays add more than $15k in costs per townhouse.

Most of our major cities have allowed fewer new homes in inner and middle-suburbs. Why? Because of restrictive planning controls.

Wealthier suburbs abuse the planning system to block new housing. Victoria's new Planning Amendment Bill aims to fix it.

YIMBY Melbourne congratulates Jess Wilson on becoming the youngest Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party. And any serious agenda for young people includes an ambitious pro-housing stance. And that means planning reform that puts young people first must be on the cards.

Our lead organiser, Jonathan O'Brien,about last week talked to Tom Elliot on 3AW why building 3-storey homes across Melbourne is a good idea 👇

In the 1980s, for the average woman, it would have taken 6 years of wages to purchase the average Brighton property. In 2025, despite radical improvements in gender pay, it would take the average woman nearly 33 years...

Australia’s dwelling stock used to grow much faster than the adult population. What happened? Restrictive planning controls happened.

This essay by Matthew Maltman is a must-read for the housing nerds.

Victoria's planning system turned 9 well-located homes into one. This is why we have a housing crisis.

What's the single biggest driver of the housing crisis? According to a new Grattan Institute report, it's our own urban planning rules. The path out of this crisis runs directly through bold reform of these rules. A must-read. 👇

In 1999, it took 55 days to get a permit for 10 dwellings. In 2023, it took 371 days. Victoria’s new reforms will get it back down to 60 days. This is why it’s critical these reforms pass →

Saying no to saying no. Victoria’s new planning bill will make it much easier to build homes across our state. But they are at risk of not being passed in the upper house →

Victoria is finally catching up. New planning reforms are aligning the state's development rules with the rest of Australia, reducing the bottlenecks that hold up new homes. But these reforms are at risk →

Victoria's new Planning Amendment Bill offers a glimpse of a future where our planning system says "yes" rather than "no" as the default. But this future is at risk if it does secure the crossbench's support. Join us next Thursday for an emergency letter-writing workshop!

🏗️ PRESS RELEASE For the first time, Victorian planning law will explicitly require decision-makers to "increase housing supply, diversity and affordability" as a core objective. This is a key foundation of a planning system that says yes, rather than no, by default →

City of Melbourne has taken FIVE years to plan *one* affordable housing project. Melbourne cannot afford these delays. It's time to get on with it.

It just turns out that upzoning expensive areas works?

We cannot allow NIMBYism to continue to segregate our city.

The Victorian Government intervenes after a local council delays social housing for FOUR years 👇

Overly broad application of heritage restrictions: ❌ make housing more expensive ❌ make our neighbourhoods older & less diverse We need to let our neighbourhoods change with the times!

Victoria's new rental reforms are a good step forward. But let's be clear: in a housing shortage, renters have little bargaining power. We need to build more homes AND have robust regulations to truly empower tenants.

First they came for Brighton and I didn't speak up because I was not rich...

Great to see the Victorian Government grandstanding for more housing.....

NIMBYism from local councils doesn't just affect private housing — it hurts social housing too. Restrictive zoning raises land costs, and the risks of local NIMBYs waging war on projects make it more difficult to build social housing where it's most needed.

Who really benefits from expansive heritage overlays? They directly increase housing costs for renters and homeowners, but the public benefit is far from clear. It's time to re-evaluate the trade-offs. 👇

Halloween has come early for Boroondara's planners... ...they might have to approve medium-density housing! 😱 😱

Does Melbourne have too much heritage? Our Lead Organiser, Jonathan O'Brien, discusses with ABC Melbourne Drive 👇

Disappointing to see Victoria's Police Minister oppose high-quality medium-density apartments in his own backyard. We need to allow *more* affordable housing options in quiet suburban streets!

The Battle for Mentone (2025)

Greensborough NIMBYs are having a normal one...

It's too early to judge the success of Victoria's planning reforms based on permit statistics before the first Townhouse Code-enabled permit was likely even approved!

It shouldn't take years to rezone well-located land for more housing. The newly announced Unlocking Strategic Sites pathway is another positive (small) step towards a more affordable Melbourne.

Ten-day subdivisions send clear signal: Victoria can move fast and build things. You love to see it.

Stonnington is claiming that their current strategy can deliver 17,000 homes *more* than the Victorian Government's housing target. However, they fail to mention that their strategy needs nearly the entirety of Stonnington to be demolished and rebuilt by 2051. Very feasible...

Disappointing to see a majority of City of Yarra councillors vote to kill the redevelopment of Piedimonte's supermarket despite the council officer's recommendation supporting the redevelopment.

The Victorian Government today has released the draft plans for the next 25 activity centres in its upzoning program. It's great to see more homes being enabled around our world-class train and tram network!

🎙️ Our lead organiser, @jonobri.com, appeared on the latest episode of "The Elephant in the Room" podcast, discussing the need for a realignment between the balance of progress and conservation. [Link in next post]

*Local councils ban medium-density housing in most of our suburbs* Local councils: "Why is nobody building the housing we banned?" 🤔🤔🤔