Bass Coast Shire Council has completed a housing survey aimed at minimising some of the impacts associated with the desalination plant.

“We have received a very positive response to the survey,” said Allan Bawden, Chief Executive Officer.

“Over 410 people have indicated they are interested in leasing out their holiday property to accommodate part of the workforce."

“We believe that by identifying these properties we can avoid a shortage of rental houses in the local market,” explained Mr Bawden.

“The last thing we want to see is residents forced to move from the area due to rising rent prices because of the desalination project.”

Mr Bawden said Council had taken a lead role to find this new housing market.

“There have been some concerns raised in the community about why Council has done this survey,” admitted Mr Bawden.

"We don’t want to see rents skyrocketing and people being forced to move out. We needed to ensure the current long term rentals remain available and that our tourist accommodation is available to drive our local tourism economy."

“By starting this process early, we are trying to prevent this from happening.”

This week, Community House Limited Victoria informed Council that they are building 16 affordable housing units in Wonthaggi specifically for low income earners.

“This project is being fully funded by the Commonwealth through the Economic Stimulus package and is expected to be completed by December 2010,” said Mr Bawden.

This affordable housing project will see the construction of:

• 8 x 2 bedroom units
• 2 x 3 bedroom units
• 6 x 1 bedroom units