2024-09-25
Why the fight to save public housing in Victoria is the fight to save public housing everywhere
By Samantha Ratnam, Victorian MLC for Northern Metro, Candidate for Wills
When I first arrived in Victorian state parliament in 2017, Labor had just announced what we now know to be the precursor for their real agenda: a complete retreat from public housing.
Their ‘Public Housing Renewal Program’ planned to demolish 10 low-rise public housing sites across Melbourne, give the majority of the land to developers for private housing, with a minimum amount of community housing rebuilt on the remaining land.
Local Councils were stripped of any decision making power and local communities were left shocked by the arrogance of a government intent on breaking up public housing communities.
Fast forward 7 years and as I prepare to leave state parliament to contest the seat of Wills, in the upcoming federal election, Labor has announced the next phase of their public housing destruction plans. A proposal to tear down all 44 public housing high rise towers across Victoria, privatise the majority of the land, and replace public housing with community housing.
This plan would displace 10,000 public housing residents in the midst of the worst housing crisis in decades. Currently, there are over 120,000 people on Victoria’s public housing waiting list and 30,000 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night. Where are all these people going to go?
Our team has now doorknocked more than half of the towers and residents are telling us that they are dismayed and despairing about the future. Many are being offered limited alternative housing options and the offers will dislocate them from their communities, schools and services.
We have pursued the Labor government at every turn. We have:
- initiated a parliamentary inquiry into the public housing privatization program,
- called for documents to be released,
- secured the support of the legislative council for the government to rule out forcibly evicting any resident from their home,
- and supported the community in securing thousands of petition signatures and forcing a parliamentary debate.
A class action has also been launched by residents that will be heard in the courts in October.
In response to repeated questioning from the Greens, Labor’s housing minister insists that community housing is the same as public housing.
But we are hearing from more and more residents that they are feeling vulnerable to community housing landlords as they are charged higher rents and fees, are given shorter leases and have nowhere to turn when things go wrong with their homes or communal spaces.
Labor is up to its usual tricks in pretending they are not privatising these estates, but they have not ruled out an outright sale or lease of this public land to developers and they have not committed to a single public home on any of the 42 sites.
With no plans or contracts for redevelopment as yet, Labor has signed demolition contracts for the first sites at North Melbourne and Flemington. And despite growing community opposition, they have just announced two more sites that will be demolished. Labor will now use these demolition contracts to begin legal proceedings against residents who don’t wish to leave their public homes. They have done it before and will do it again.
Make no mistake. Labor is following the likes of Thatcher and retreating from its responsibility in government to operate public housing. They have succumbed to the neoliberal notion that any ‘supply’ will ease the housing crisis. But the problem is, the demand is not for expensive housing that people can’t afford.
Our public housing waiting list reveals that people need genuine affordable housing options – and the most affordable secure housing is public housing. More public housing relieves demand in the private market and increases supply of affordable rentals for everyone.
Building more public housing used to be the lever that good governments used to pull in times of crisis like what we are facing now.
Labor’s plans to demolish and privatise public housing could end public housing in Victoria. And if they get away with it in Victoria, the rest of the country is next.
But we are building a movement to save public housing. With thousands of people across Victoria coming together and public housing communities feeling more empowered to speak up about their homes, their communities and their futures, there is hope. We won’t give up.
Public housing can end homelessness. Public housing can solve the housing crisis. We have to save it.
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