2025-09-24
The Fight To Save Public Housing In victoria
By Gabrielle De Vietri, Victorian Greens State Member For Richmond
It’s been almost two years since the Victorian Labor Government announced plans to demolish all 44 of the public housing towers in Melbourne. In this time, community, housing advocates, public housing residents and the Victorian Greens have mobilised to fight this demolition. Gabrielle De Vietri shares what has been happening in Victoria.
It’s not often you can bring together over a hundred people at 7 am on a Monday morning, but that’s exactly what we did on the first week of picketing pre-demolition works at the Flemington Public Housing estate back in July.
We got the notice from residents still living in one of the towers late on Sunday night - they were in utter disbelief that the government would be starting to drill and dismantle apartments while people were still living in the building. The notice to residents stated that workers in HazMat suits would be entering the building and advised them to keep their doors and windows closed.
In a flurry, I sent out messages and put up a post on social media. The next morning we showed up in the rain alongside 100 others who came from diverse community groups, political parties, and different parts of Melbourne.
Before long, after speaking with workers to let them know that we were there to support residents and stop the work, they called their bosses and clocked off for the day. It was our first victory.
What proceeded was a rolling program of pickets, protests, stake-outs and lock-ons across Flemington, North Melbourne and Richmond estates and a dedicated network of almost 500 people on our new WhatsApp community, ready to turn up and stop the demolition.
Since our rally late last year, this was the first physical display of resistance to the demolition projects, and Labor was scared.
Almost exactly two years ago, ex-Premier Daniel Andrews stood shoulder to shoulder with property developers to announce that the Victorian Labor Government would be demolishing all 44 of the public housing towers in Melbourne and handing the land to private property developers.
Residents in the towers found out through a press conference that they would be forced out of their homes at an undisclosed date in the future. Premier Andrews announced his resignation the following week, leaving the project with his successor, Jacinta Allan.
Fast forward two years, and back in Parliament, Housing Minister Harriet Shing is defensive, avoidant and frankly triggered whenever we pose questions to her in the chamber.
Together, as a community, we are fighting this project with every lever at our disposal. Residents from the inside, on the ground, through the courts, in the media and in parliament. We’ve just concluded months of public hearings for the parliamentary inquiry that the Greens secured into the decision to demolish.
Months of submission writing workshops, supporting residents to have their voices heard, and widespread communication about this disastrous plan resulted in over 800 submissions, overwhelmingly calling for the project to be cancelled.
Throughout the hearings, witnesses told us of widespread coercive and misleading practices from relocation officers, and an at-all-costs approach by the government. We heard of the disproportionate impact that this plan would have on vulnerable and already marginalised residents.
Experts demonstrated that a retrofit approach, combined with a plan to build more public housing, would yield far better social, environmental, and financial outcomes. From community lawyers, to service providers, human rights experts and architects, the government’s lack of transparency and accountability was a major theme emerging from the hearings.
The sobering reality was clear: this project was designed to divide communities and push them out of prime real estate so it can be handed off to property developers.
Questions still remain: where is the Government’s business case for this project? Where is the evidence that they should demolish rather than refurbish? So far, Labor has been unable or unwilling to produce these documents.
As we await the final report and recommendations from the Parliamentary inquiry, the campaign continues to build. Residents and the broader community are gearing up for a fight. We will not let Labor demolish our much-loved public housing.
We want them to build more and look after what we have.
If you would like to join us on the front line or learn more about the campaign, please contact my office at gabrielle.devietri@parliament.vic.gov.au.