🟠 Barks and recreation

Also including: The ultimate guide to cheaper grocery shopping in Melbourne's east

Author

Matthew Sims
May 06, 2026

⏱️ The 134th edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.

Hi there 👋 

Matthew Sims here, your reporter at the Eastern Melburnian.

🌆 If you’ve looked at renting a unit or apartment in Box Hill recently, you’ll be well aware prices are much higher than they were a few years ago.

😓 The rising costs are just one factor leading residents into housing stress, with 2,340 local residents estimated to need social and affordable housing by 2041.

📞 I spoke with Whitehorse mayor Kirsten Langford earlier this week about the high costs, increasing land prices and extra government policies driving development away and what more could be done.

Today we’re covering:

“To have access to a friendly and supportive community group means the world to Kim and to our family.”

Jo Larkin visits Bob Saker Oval regularly with her sister Kimberly, who is living with intellectual disabilities, autism and anxiety, and said other dog walkers provided her sister with a social outlet.

WHAT’S COMING UP 🎟️

📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

There are currently no construction cranes operating in Box Hill, with Whitehorse mayor Kirsten Langford arguing high development costs are deterring builders and investors away.

With a gap of more than 2,000 affordable housing opportunities needed to arrive by 2041 to address high levels of rental stress, is enough being built to meet demand?

According to the SRL East Draft Structure Plan for Box Hill, there will be 2,340 local residents who will need social and affordable housing by 2041.

In 2021, there were 150 social and affordable housing dwellings in Box Hill, highlighting a gap of 2,190 – or 37 percent of the total net additional dwellings required by 2041.

Affordable housing is a type of rental available for Australians who don’t meet the requirements for social housing, but are still struggling to pay their rent on a low-income.

For a property to be considered affordable housing, rents must be set at least 10 percent below the area’s median market rent and must not increase by more than five percent per year.

Rents for units and apartments in Box Hill have jumped by $220 over the past four years – from a median rental price of $380 a week in the May 2021 to April 2022 period to $600 over the May 2025 to April 2026 period. That’s an increase of about 57.9 percent.

Some recent developments have delivered affordable housing in Box Hill, including the two 17-storey SKY SQR towers, with 37 of the 425 build-to-rent apartments dedicated to social, affordable, and specialist disability housing.

Whitehorse mayor Kirsten Langford said high development costs due to an increase in land prices and extra government policies had meant the council had seen a "significant reduction” in applications for residential developments.

“Today, there are no cranes in Box Hill,” Langford told the Eastern Melburnian. “Less applications means less development and less opportunity for affordable housing.”

Rents jump by 58 percent in Box Hill as city struggles to meet affordable housing targets

There will be more than 2,000 residents requiring low-income accommodation support by 2041.

Dog owners who use Bob Saker Oval in Forest Hill are set to lose the off-leash area following a Whitehorse Council plan to expand sports facilities.

Estimated to cost more than $17 million, the draft master plan for Mahoneys Reserve includes proposals for a new cricket and soccer pavilion and the renovation of the Scouts hall.

Under the plan, off-leash dog exercise would be banned from Bob Saker Oval. Dog owners would instead share the adjacent South Mid and South West ovals in the reserve’s western section with sporting users.

A council report said Bob Saker Oval has been “significantly impacted” by holes dug by dogs, with Nunawading Cricket Club volunteers required to check and fill holes before matches.

Nunawading City Football Club stopped using the oval as a main pitch about four years ago due to injury risks. Both clubs declined to comment.

The final round of consultation closes on Sunday May 24, with a final plan expected to be endorsed later this year.

Off-leash dog walkers the casualty of $17 million upgrade to Bob Saker Oval

Despite being more than four years in the making, not everyone’s happy with the proposals.

☕️ LOCAL LIFESTYLE 🍔

A lower price for produce

A quick stop into one of the large supermarket chains to grab a couple of staples can sometimes end with a surprising shock to budget plans.

So we’ve compiled a list of some of eastern Melbourne’s grocery stores offering bulk loads or discounted items.

The ultimate guide to cheaper grocery shopping in eastern Melbourne

Popping into these bulk or discount stores could cut down on your weekly expenses.

Thanks for sticking around to the end of this mid-week edition!

I’m looking further into the local fallout from the closure of three G8 Education childcare centres last week.

Were you suddenly told your child had to find another centre to attend? How did you go with the search? How many days of daycare did your child miss?

Let us know by replying to this email or contacting [email protected].

Cheers,

Matthew