My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing, and the action I seek is for the minister to build more public housing, not privatise public housing estates. The government plans to privatise swathes of public housing land, including in the Prahran electorate, gifting it to private property developers to rebuild the towers with no guarantee in its housing statement that public housing will be built following the demolition. In its statement it says it wants to increase the number of people living on these estates from 10,000 to 30,000, but incredibly, of the 20,000 extra people on the estates, 95 per cent will be in private housing – just 5 per cent in social housing at a time when our state’s public housing waiting list stands at over 125,000 people and will continue to grow. Rather than committing to building the amount of public housing we desperately need in our state and utilising the land on public housing estates, which is close to transport and close to schools, services and jobs, the government is opting to sell off existing estates for the profits of private developers. The former Premier, when he announced this plan, said he expected a lot of interest from developers in the estates. Well, he is not wrong. I am sure they will be lined up. This proposed sell-off, reminiscent of the Kennett era – although even he has come out and opposed it – will have far-reaching and long-term effects on our state’s ability to provide quality public housing for those who need it.
Our estates do need upgrading. Some parts need rebuilding. But it makes no sense to privatise prime public housing land so close to the CBD instead of building more housing on it. Under this plan, hundreds of existing public housing units will be destroyed and thousands of residents displaced without any guarantee that any of the newly built dwellings will be public housing homes. Public housing is essential to ensuring that people who need it most have a safe place to call home, and I call on the minister to ensure that our public housing estates remain in the public’s hands and are used for the public good.
Response from the Minister for Housing
I thank the Member for Prahran for their adjournment matter, in relation to public housing.
The Allan Labor Government is committed to ensuring the supply of housing keeps up with current demand, and Victorians have a safe place to call home.
As of June 2023, the number of households on the Victorian Housing Register that are not current social housing renters is 55,822. Of those households, 77 percent (or 43,199 households) are happy to live in either community or public housing. Less than 20 percent of applicants will only accept a public housing offer, and 3 percent will only accept a community housing offer. In this renewal program the government is building social homes, both public and community homes.
At the two vacant Carlton red brick towers, 196 outdated homes will be replaced with a minimum of 231 public housing dwellings. The Housing Statement is a commitment of a much more ambitious scale.
Our older public housing high-rise buildings are coming to the end of their operational life, and it is no longer feasible or cost-effective to continue to repair these buildings to the standards renters need. Building faults and breakdowns have become more common, causing frequent disruption to residents’ comfort and safety. The Allan Labor Government will renew these aging precincts and homes, to provide a minimum uplift of 10 percent in social housing homes across the program by 2051. This uplift will be vital modern, energy efficient and accessible housing for people on the Victorian Housing Register. The Housing Statement estimates that we will be able to improve the liveability and quality of these housing precincts while also increasing the number of people living across the sites from around 10,0000 to 30,000.
The health and wellbeing of the residents who call the towers home is the priority of the program. Homes Victoria will work with renters and communities over the coming weeks, months and years to understand our renters current and future housing needs. The relocation approach will not displace renters, rather dedicated and experienced staff will work with renters to understand their preferences and support them to move to new homes that meet their needs over the coming years.
