Nearly 150 complaints have been lodged with the Victorian ombudsman from residents of Melbourne’s public housing towers, with many reporting ongoing distress after last month’s hard lockdown to contain spread of COVID-19.
Paramedics and COVID testing staff remain onsite at the commission flats in north Melbourne, a month after Victoria’s public housing towers became the epicentre of the state’s pandemic.
Achol Aluier contracted the virus in the first wave, but with seven people living in her three bedroom flat, there was no way to contain the spread.
“If someone got coronavirus, we just can’t isolate. Everyone uses everything, the house is too small ... that’s why we got it all of us.”
Ambulances at public housing towers in North Melbourne Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
Ms Aluier came to Australia from South Sudan in 2003. She’s lived in the public housing towers for 13 years and now shares her home with her five children aged from seven to 19 and her aunt.
Her family has been on the list for a bigger house for 11 years, but she says the lockdown and Stage Four restrictions has made her desperate to get out.
“They told us you have to wait 10 years to get a house and we’ve been waiting more than that but we still haven’t got any housing.”
Mary Ajueth has also been waiting for over a decade.
She arrived in Australia from South Sudan in 2008. Five of her eight children still live at home in their three bedroom flat.
Mary Ajueth lives in a three bedroom flat with five of her children Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
She can’t read, write or speak English, so she’s relying on her older children to help the younger with their remote learning.
Her family were diagnosed with COVID-19 in July; both she and her youngest child also have asthma.
She says it took days for health authorities to contact her after they were diagnosed, an experience that left her traumatised.
“For two days we didn’t have any food. When they called me I was crying, I told them no one is helping me.
"I am home with my child and I can’t do anything.”
She says many large families are living in small apartments in her building, with entire floors sharing laundry facilities and elevators.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s housing coordinator Skye Constantine says the pandemic has put a spotlight on a public housing system that’s not keeping up.
“One of the things this public health crisis has done is to reveal the cracks that were already there that we could ignore before they became absolutely dire.”
Public housing towers in Fitzroy north of Melbourne Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
Figures released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare this month show almost 800,000 people live in social or public housing.
Of that figure, 5 per cent are classified as living in accommodation too small for their families, while a further 150,000 remain on the wait list for accommodation.
With over three weeks remaining of Stage Four restrictions, some public housing tenants say they’re not sure how they’ll cope.
Mother of five Lucy Lueth is one of those.
Born in Ethiopia, she came to Australia in 2008 when she was 16 years old.
Lucy Lueth wants to move her five children into a house Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
Last year she was upgraded to a three bedroom flat that she shares with her five children. Her youngest is just five months.
She says the lockdown has hit them hard.
“I feel like we’re in prison, I feel bad for my kids because I can’t take them outside, they can’t go and play outside, they just have to run around in a small area.”
The family has so far avoided contracting the virus, but Lucy says she lives in fear.
“I’m scared for my health. If I get coronavirus and then bring it to the kids at home, it’s really hard. So I’m just locked down in my house with my children. The help I was getting from my family, I’m not getting it anymore.”
She wants the state government to allow those with large families to move out to external accommodations at least for the duration of the pandemic.
Associate Professor Wendy Stone from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute says Australia’s pandemic recovery must include reforms to public housing policy.
Mary Ajueth and Achol Aluier outside Atherton Gardens estate Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
“We haven’t had a coordinated, large scale housing strategy in Australia, a national strategy since last century and what the pandemic shows us is that it’s time.”
A spokesperson for the Victorian government told SBS “We’re working with public housing tenants and the housing sector to address any overcrowding issues on our estates and if there’s more work to be done, we’ll look at how we can achieve that.”
Associate Professor Wendy Stone says a major overhaul is needed.
“What we’re doing is working on a 'business as usual' model that no longer fits the diversity, the complexity the density Australia needs in its housing system.”
The department of health says it’s scaled up regular phone contact with vulnerable residents.
But residents living in overcrowded accommodations say only an end to the Stage Four lockdown will bring any sort of relief.
Metropolitan Melbourne residents are subject to Stage 4 restrictions and must comply with a curfew between the hours of 8pm and 5am. During the curfew, people in Melbourne can only leave their house for work, and essential health, care or safety reasons.
Between 5am and 8pm, people in Melbourne can leave the home for exercise, to shop for necessary goods andservices, for work, for health care, or to care for a sick or elderly relative. The full list of restrictions can be found here. All Victorians must wear a face covering when they leave home, no matter where they live.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080. News and information is available in 63 languages at
