In September, the Save Public Housing Collective held a residents meeting at 120 Racecourse Road in Flemington. It was attended by approximately 60 residents of the estate, many of whom were older tenants. It was a great example of how to hold a public meeting that caters for cultural diversity, with interpreters for 8 different languages present (Arabic, Somali, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Turkish, Tigrinya and Tigre) and a fantastic spread of food from the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.

Voices of residents

Residents were asked to contribute to the discussion, and we think more than anything else, it’s important to hear directly from older residents about their concerns. What follows is some of what they said.

“I am originally from Sudan. When we heard the announcement on the news, the community was very upset and confused. The Government didn’t come to us. During COVID-19 we were surrounded by police.”

“Public housing is not just a building. It’s our heart, our community, our connection. We help each other and help our elders when they come here. We need to fight for the public house.”

“I’ve been living here almost 25 years. This building is our heart. We are suffering a lot because of the plan to demolish this building. As a community – all cultures whether black of white – we look after each other. We are connected. We help each other because we believe in this place. We fought for years to get a playground and a place for elderly people to meet.”

“There are a lot of buildings being demolished. We don’t have masks. Our children can’t play because they say there is asbestos.”

“They are forcing us to move. We don’t want to go. We want to tell them we want to stay. A lot of us can’t sleep. They are forcing us, just like during COVID. They are saying if we don’t accept the first house they offer, we lose our chance of a house. Every day they knock at the door and say are you ready to move out. A lot of us have language barrier. We are scared. We move. We don’t understand.”

“I am very emotional – I am dealing with a lot. They are offering different people different things. Its very confusing and upsetting.”

“We need a signed agreement that we will be guaranteed that we can come back to live here – in a public house.”

“I am a renter living on the estate 25 years, many people here know me well. They locked us down without any prior notice – again no notice when they are trying to demolish the buildings. No democratic country in the world would do this. I’ve lived in many countries including Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Even though we are nobody and we don’t speak English we shouldn’t be discriminated against. They want to demolish our homes and they are going to do it. The new places are like tofu – just very small cubes. I’ve been to the new places – I’ve seen the kitchen. If you put a table in the kitchen you can’t even fit a chair to sit on to watch TV. There are two rooms, but only a window in one room. There is no sunlight and no fresh air. No light or air in the bathroom. At least where we are living now every room has a window. The reason we want to save our homes is first because it’s a good design. There is no reason to demolish it.”

“They want to demolish our buildings, get us to move out of our homes and then get rich people to move in. They want to be able to sell these homes to rich people. They are doing this for money. It will be the same as hundreds of years ago when Aboriginal people were kicked out of their homes. There is no democracy. Tell the government – don’t demolish our homes!”

Background

In September 2023, the Victorian Government announced plans to “retire and redevelop” the public housing towers over the coming decades  . The first high-rises due for redevelopment are in Flemington and North Melbourne. Residents have been assured that they will be relocated into alternative housing at no cost to them, and that they will have the right to return after the housing is redeveloped. The housing that is proposed to replace the towers includes a small increase in the number of “social” housing units (10%) but with three times the number of apartments, the majority likely going to private developers . The details on land ownership, transfers, development types and other critical information have not been released. It is not clear what proportion, if any, will remain as genuine “public housing”, that is publicly owned and managed housing.

Our concerns

Many older tenants, such as those in Flemington, do not live in 55+ older person’s housing so they are less visible than residents in the older persons high rises and do not have an existing dedicated support service, such as the Older Persons High Rise Program.

They require specific support to receive information in an accessible way and support with relocations, if they are to occur, and this is even more important for non-English speaking residents.

The relocation process is disruptive and breaks up close knit communities. For many older people, accessing medical support, public transport and remaining connected to their communities is extremely important. If relocations are necessary, older tenants require additional support to move and to understand their options.

It remains unclear what proportion of the newly built housing will remain as public housing (that is, publicly owned and managed) and how much will be owned and/or managed by community housing providers. Our position is that all housing should remain in public ownership, and there should be no loss of public housing. If a proportion of this housing is to be managed by community housing providers behalf of the government, then they should be held to the same standards of allocation, tenancy management, rent setting as public housing.

Read our statement here

  See further: Victorian Government, Media Release: Australia’s Biggest Ever Urban Renewal Project, accessible at: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/site-4/australias-biggest-ever-urban-rene...
  See further: VCOSS, Everything we know (so far) about Victoria’s Housing Statement, accessible at: https://vcoss.org.au/housing-and-homelessness/2023/09/housing-statement/