My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing, and the action I seek from the minister is that he fund a massive upgrade of public housing estates in the Prahran electorate in the upcoming state budget. We have got a number of estates in the Prahran electorate—in South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor and St Kilda—and I want to outline what an upgrade would look like to those estates. It would mean rebuilding some parts of the estates that are simply not fit for purpose around Bangs Street, Essex Street and at some of the walk-ups. They are in need of rebuilding as modern homes with the capacity to add more public housing on site to address our community’s homelessness crisis.
It means upgrading units in the existing towers. On the Horace Petty estate, despite promises dating back almost a decade, there are units that have not been upgraded in the towers for a long time. Some levels have been upgraded and then others have been ignored. It means improving the grounds, the security, the cleaning and the maintenance levels to make the estates better places to live. These issues just continue to come up week after week, with residents often feeling unsafe. We have got pigeon infestation across many of the estates, making the common areas filthy and affecting people’s health. It means looking at co-locating services on site so people can get the support and care they need.
Public housing is essential to the Prahran community, ensuring that people who need it most have a safe place to call home that is close to services, close to schools and close to employment. Our estates do need upgrading. Some parts need rebuilding, and this budget represents the perfect opportunity to do that. As the government looks to invest to recover, upgrading public housing in the Prahran electorate will create jobs for builders and for tradies whilst ensuring that everyone in our community has a safe, secure, dignified place to call home.
