Friends of Public Housing Vic congratulates City of Yarra councillors for agreeing unanimously to a motion put forward by Greens councillor Amanda Stone in July.
The language of the motion was clear and unambiguous and addressed the state government’s plan to build ‘Social and Affordable Housing’ on a Public Housing estate in Wellington St Collingwood as part of its ‘Big Housing Build’ for Victoria.
Councillor Stone’s motion proposed that only genuine Public Housing be built and furthermore it should not replace the carpark which many existing public tenants and their families rely upon. The street parking is metered in the surrounding areas, which would make everyday life extraordinarily difficult and expensive for the public tenants on the Wellington estate if they were denied their carpark.
Please note that the wording of Councillor Stone’s motion is that ‘this new housing is and remains public housing’ ( our italics. )The Council here is clearly trying to block up a loophole that Labor has used in the past whereby the titles of publicly owned buildings are handed over to private Community Housing businesses at a later date.
Regarding the question of consultation, Labor’s Minister for Housing and Planning, Richard Wynne has said that “community consultation is an important part of master planning.”
However public tenant Brian Joss, who lives on the Wellington St public housing complex has stated that the government ‘has not properly communicated with residents’, going so far as to say that the public tenants are being treated like ‘dogs’. “They’re already starting to plan something without telling people what’s going on.”
Socialist councillor Stephen Jolly followed up by hosting a well-attended meeting. He said that the public tenants were “angry about issues on their estate: burnt out units, no recycling, and especially the concern that much needed new housing is inexplicably being built on their vital communal car park. They also want to know why it's social instead of public housing.” This meeting was also attended by Greens Councillor James Conlon.
It’s very important that elected politicians discuss with public tenants the differences between Public Housing and Community/Social Housing and explain to them the greater protections they have as Public Housing tenants. Public tenants have the right to be fully informed. Their future and the future of their families depends on it.
Councillor Stone has said, when discussing public tenants transferring to Community Housing, that they "do not always understand the implications of the different language used to describe different forms of housing and they experience a shock when moving from public to community housing for example." For many public tenants English is a second language which makes it even harder for them to get the information they need.
As Councillor Stone goes on to say, "When the need for housing is urgent, people may accept a place which does not best suit their needs. It can be very difficult to move again if a place is not successful."
Almost 10% of City of Yarra’s population live in Public Housing.This percentage is greater than anywhere else in Victoria.
Therefore it is very important that the Councillors at City of Yarra are keeping their terminology precise and accurate rather than using the ambiguous term 'Social Housing' -and that they are unanimously defending our Public Housing system.
Congratulations again to Councillor Stone and to all the Yarra Councillors.
More Background:
In late 2020, the Victorian Government announced its Big Housing Build, a $5.3 billion investment to build over 12,000 homes in four years. Of these, 9,300 will be ‘social housing’. The rest will be ‘affordable housing’ and private housing. So-called ‘affordable housing’ units can charge rents of up to 80% of the private market rents according to the suburb in which they are built.
The program will also replace 1,100 existing public housing units. This is not widely known or discussed.
Labor’s Big Housing Build is in fact a covert attack on Public Housing -an attempt to wind down a public asset.It will be replaced - ie privatised - with new ‘social/community housing’ run by private landlords.
The destruction of Public Housing and the displacement of our communities is hidden beneath the hyperbole and fanfare surrounding Labor’s ‘Commitment to Social Housing’. This hidden privatisation agenda is not being reported by the media.
‘Engage Victoria’, an online consultation platform delivered via the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, claims that Labor's social housing policy will “support strong and inclusive communities”.
As public tenants we know that you would be hard-pressed to find stronger, more inclusive and culturally diverse communities than those living in Public Housing. These communities will be decimated if Labor succeeds in its plans to displace the public tenants and gentrify the area.
Richard Wynne, the Minister for Housing and for Planning, has been made the sole decision maker on any of the Big Housing Build projects. The state government has removed the powers of Victorian Councils to assess and approve any of the developments.This is not democratic.
Here is the motion made by Amanda Stone and passed unanimously by Yarra Council.
Motion No 7 - 20 July 2021
That Yarra Council
- in relation to the proposed “build” at Collingwood, makes a submission which urges the state government to ensure that:
(i) this new housing is and remains public housing ( government owned and managed );
(ii) no green open space is lost for this build and that any significant trees removed are offset on the estate;
(iii) the new development is of the highest ESD standards with high levels of thermal comfort and indoor air quality;
(iv) the existing car parking provision on site is maintained; and
(v) maintenance of the new buildings be of a high standard and that maintenance levels of existing public housing be improved.
Sources
The Age - “Collingwood housing build could cost tower residents their carpark” By Rachel Eddie. July 2. 2021
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/collingwood-housing-build-could-cost-tower-residents-their-car-park-20210701-p585ux.html
City of Yarra’s Housing Strategy 2018
Stephen Jolly’s Facebook page.
Hooray to the members of the City of Yarra Council who made history on insisting public housing prevails over social housing. Their decision is indeed a breakthrough and we all hope other Council's follow their lead. Friends of Public Housing has too few friends in high places and wages a lonely fight to promote the much better public housing model over the not so tenant friendly social housing model.
ReplyDeleteToo few friends in high places but loads of supporters on the ground and living in Public Housing! :)
DeleteLet us all applaud the ground breaking decision by councillers from the City of Yarra. It is indeed a first and the Council shows marvellous social justice principles in their support of public housing. If only other muncipalities followed their lead. Congratulations
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to be reading this article. MELB inner city resident most of my life, now in my sixties, it’s familiar territory! Before lockdown, I worked in Collingwood cleaning bars, offices, and homes. Unfortunately, parking my car was a constant stress. With my cleaning trolleys and equipment, I’d be lucky to find a parking spot out the front of the premises I was cleaning. The meters often took $12 out of my income, an amount I couldn’t really factor into my fee. And often I had to leave in the middle of an intense clean, and all the mess that entails, just to move my car to avoid a fine! If I had to buy more chemicals, I’d lose my parking spot and have to circle around searching all over again, losing valuable work time. It was always a parking nightmare! One staffer lived in one of the public housing complexes with her two children and her mother. Having dropped her off and visited several times, I was relieved to see she and her little family were in a well-equipped public housing facility. Though she didn’t have a balcony, (play area for the kids) her unit was a generous enough size. And there was a kiddies playground in the building’s grounds. Tenant parking was provided for and secure, unlike the consistently crowded street parking. The lifts in her highrise were efficient, the security staff were reassuringly strict and very obliging. The multi-cultural tenants had a friendly, bubbly attitude, and there were always fun conversations to be had in the lifts! All round, I had a very good impression of Public Housing and Public Housing tenants. I’d loathe to see their conditions impinged upon in any way - building too many buildings on the open grounds or by denying them anywhere to park their cars. Furthermore, I can only hope the Council responsible for Collingwood, will realise this very real problem of parking. The area is not going to get much general business, unless it provides easier parking conditions for everyone. Instead of more private apartment blocks, Collingwood needs a lowcost high rise parking complex.
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