VICTORIA’S Allan government will redevelop public housing towers in South Yarra and Richmond as part of a controversial program it bills as Australia’s “largest-ever renewal project”, with the announcement coming despite a class action from residents hanging over the first phase of the program.
The then-Daniel Andrews-led government announced a year ago as part of its Housing Statement it would replace Melbourne’s 44 high-rise housing estates that house around 10,000 people with new towers that would be home to 30,000 residents. Of this, 11,000 would be public tenants, and the balance to be a mixture of social and market housing.
Acting Premier Tim Pallas and Minister for Housing Harriet Shing have now announced that the next stage of the program will develop the towers at Malvern Road in South Yarra and Highett Street in Richmond, as well as walk-ups at Anderson Court, Williams Court and Elizabeth Street in Richmond.
Works are already underway at three other locations, with demolition about to kick off at the vacant red brick towers at Elgin Street in the CBD fringe suburb Carlton – which will ultimately deliver 231 new homes, with an 18% increase in social housing at the site.
The government has been pushing ahead with works at Carlton and sites in North Melbourne and Flemington despite a class action from residents in the towers. The announcement of the next phase of the project came just two days after the Supreme Court heard that Homes Victoria could not produce any documents detailing the decision to demolish the towers. The matter is going to trial late next month.
The Victorian Supreme Court had thrown out an initial class action in May.
The government says the existing towers are reaching the end of their useful lives and are “no longer meeting modern standards of living”, and that it would cost at least $2.3 billion over 20 years “just to keep them in a habitable condition – that doesn’t include improving building compliance with modern standards”.
“If we were to simply upgrade these towers, residents would have to be relocated as works would be extensive and include significant disruption, and upgrades to meet minimum standards would result in fewer homes.”
“This investment is delivering more than 13,300 new social homes for Victorians, with at least a quarter of these in rural and regional Victoria,” the government said.
“This project will occur in stages and we’re working with residents and the community one step at a time, every step of the way and in a culturally sensitive and appropriate way.
“Renters relocating from high-rise housing towers are being offered homes suitable to their needs, including in communities close to where they currently live, and we’ll make sure every resident across the towers has the support they need.”
Pallas said, “We’re building more modern, secure social homes and boosting social housing by at least 10%. We’re not going to slow down, we’re going to double down – and over the next few months, we’re going to outline new key policy changes to build even more homes.”
Last year, the government delivered close to 3,000 new social houses, and it has around $8 billion invested in delivering new social and affordable housing around the state.
