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Public housing residents accuse the state government of pushing poor people out of Melbourne\u2019s inner-suburbs, and vow not to leave their homes in protest against plans to demolish and rebuild ageing towers around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can bury me under this building, but I\u2019m not moving out,\u201d Wellington Street tower resident Valentyna Frolova told a rally at Collingwood\u2019s public housing complex on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Valentyna Frolova, from the Wellington Street flats.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n In its housing statement last month, the Victorian Labor government announced all 44 public housing towers in Melbourne would be razed and rebuilt to fit three times as many residents.<\/p>\n But of the 30,000 people who would live at the estates by 2051, 11,000 would be in social housing \u2013 1000 more than occupy the towers now. The remainder would be private apartments, with an unspecified number of affordable housing tenants.<\/p>\n There were 55,822 households on the social housing waiting list in the June quarter.<\/p>\n About 150 people gathered at the Collingwood housing estate to protest against the announcement, and characterised the plans as privatisation by stealth and an abandonment of vulnerable people.<\/p>\n \u201cThey look at us like we\u2019re small fishes, and we can\u2019t say nothing, and we can\u2019t do nothing. But as long as we try that\u2019s all that counts,\u201d Frolova said.<\/p>\n Public housing resident Aisha Abdi addresses the rally on Saturday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n All tenants will be offered alternative housing during the redevelopment.<\/p>\n But resident Aisha Abdi was worried about elderly residents and that schooling would be disrupted for children who moved outside their communities.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a shock to everybody. People were saying, \u2018Where are we going to? Where are we going to?\u2019 We\u2019re staying here. We\u2019re staying in this public housing. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n A resident in the Carlton public housing estate, Katherine Ceballos, said the government never asked how to improve the standards of the towers, where residents had forged strong communities.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to dump us in the suburbs, further away the better,\u201d said Ceballos.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not just buildings made of concrete,\u201d she said. \u201cA housing estate is more than just what people see from the shell. It\u2019s life and it\u2019s our life.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal Greens leader Adam Bandt, the member for Melbourne, said governments were giving up on public housing and increasingly turning to non-profit community groups to provide housing.<\/p>\n Federal Greens leader Adam Bandt.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n The state government is yet to confirm whether the social housing for 11,000 residents at the rebuilt estates would be public housing, meaning they would government run with rent at 25 per cent of household income, or community housing with rent at 25-30 per cent of income.<\/p>\n Bandt said governments had not built public housing to keep up with population growth. \u201cThere are no answers to these questions, and the government doesn\u2019t have the dignity to come down and talk to the residents collectively and say, let\u2019s work out a plan together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n State Richmond MP and Greens renters\u2019 rights spokeswoman Gabrielle de Vietri, Greens Yarra councillor and Fitzroy public housing resident Anab Mohamud, and independent socialist Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly were among those to address the rally.<\/p>\n Aboriginal activist Robbie Thorpe, a Gunai man, said Aboriginal people had been homeless since colonisation and questioned why there was poverty in a wealthy country.<\/p>\n Robbie Thorpe addresses the rally on Saturday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n The Victorian Greens this month threatened to block Victorian Labor\u2019s taxes on vacant land and short-stay properties in parliament\u2019s upper house unless the government made concessions on its housing statement.<\/p>\n Premier Jacinta Allan on Thursday said the government was focused on building well-connected homes to increase the supply of both private, social and affordable homes.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why, as part of the housing statement, we are looking at the largest urban renewal project in the country around the redevelopment of the 44 tower housing sites,\u201d Allan said. \u201cThose sites are all close to jobs, close to public transport, close to services, close to schools.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not interested in having a fight or argument with the Greens. We\u2019re just wanting to work collaboratively to get more homes built.\u201d Some residents looked forward to newer amenities, though many believe the towers could be refurbished at a lower cost without displacing communities.<\/p>\n Then-premier Daniel Andrews last month said it would have cost $2.3 billion over 20 years, or $55 million per tower, just to maintain the buildings without retrofitting them.<\/p>\n Homes Victoria chief executive Simon Newport last week told a parliamentary inquiry the towers had insurmountable design issues.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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