Government's post-Games $1b regional housing fund welcomed

Light on detail and devoid of timeframes as the plans are, they strike the right chord, at least, in allocating half the money to housing.

Bendigo and other would-be host cities have each lost hundreds of dwellings that would have been converted from their athletes villages.

But the $1 billion housing fund - for 1300 or more homes to be built where need is greatest - could deliver more accommodation for major cities than the Games would have, and should see it built more quickly, the Premier has said.

The promised "extra" dwellings may be only a fraction of the 6000 the state needs to build every year for a decade to get on top of its housing crisis, but according to NGO Haven Home Safe, they are a very positive development.

CEO Trudi Ray told the Advertiser the new fund would be better for those in need than the legacy of the Games would have been.

"This will be life changing for the many regional Victorians who are experiencing hardship and who will now be prioritised as a result of the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games," she said.

The state now had an opportunity to deliver "a long-term plan and investment pipeline that was capable of going beyond electoral cycles", Ms Ray said.

"By ensuring the $1b funding is well planned and spent across regional, rural and remote areas of need, the community should get quality and timely outcomes for that investment over the next few years, and that will certainly build on the Big Housing Build to create the housing pipeline we desperately need here in Victoria."

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale said she wanted to congratulate the government for the new fund, which was a "win for all those regional Victorians who've been struggling to put a roof over their heads".

"I think it's easy to say that we haven't got enough, that we haven't gone far enough, but we do have the Big Housing Build, which is an enormous commitment [to the] people who need it the most," she said.

While the social housing sector would like an ongoing pipeline of projects rather than one-off commitments, "today is a day that we're delighted to see an extra billion dollars for the regions", she said.

Another major component of the $2 billion package was a $150 million fund to create regional worker accommodation, such as the Maryborough Health Service student accommodation facility where Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan held their press conference on Wednesday.

The Maryborough accommmodation, which was opened in March, has been a smashing success, health service CEO Nikola Allan said.

"From a regional Victorian point of view, I think this announcement will be really helpful to enable business providers and communities to work together to try and address some of those rental gaps that exist," Ms Allan told the Advertiser.

Exactly how the accommodation projects would be devised and funded is yet to be seen, with stakeholder consultation set to inform the design of the scheme. But the initiative targets a lack of affordable accommodation that a federal parliamentary committee earlier this year identified as a major factor in staff shortages in Bendigo, and according to Ms Allan, its open framework is an asset.

"We know that if you've got place-based solutions, you're going to have a much better outcome than those being kind of put on you by somebody else. If you can create it, design it yourself, knowing what the needs are, you'll have a much better outcome," she said.

The City of Greater Bendigo was yet to hold substantive discussions on Wednesday about the $25 million council support fund or any other aspects of the regional funding package.

The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal declined to comment on it.

The government said its $2 billion regional funding package includes:

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