TRANSCRIPT
Anyone who has lived in Melbourne's inner suburbs knows the public housing towers.
Built in the 1960s, the 44 high rise towers have been the backbone of Victoria's public housing sector for around 60 years.
In September last year, residents of the towers received a flyer beneath their doors.
The flyer informed tenants in the building of the state government's decision to knock down all 44 of these towers, with the promise of new social housing in their place.
Now, some tenants have decided to take legal action against the government for what they say is a breach of human rights.
Inner Melbourne Community Legal is the community legal centre filing the class action on behalf of the residents.
Louisa Bassini is the lawyer leading the class action.
"We decided to commence legal action because unlike other announcements of this sort made by government regarding public housing renewal, there's usually a case put forward to the public as to why the changes need to happen, including such things as how the people whose rights will be impacted have been properly considered in the process. And in this case, we haven't seen that, we haven't seen any, what we call a charter assessment, a document that shows how people's rights under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act have been properly considered. Nor have we seen really any case made publicly for why there are structural problems, for instance, with the towers that require them to be necessarily torn down."
One resident of the towers and a client of the legal centre explains how they found out about the government's plans.
They wish to remain anonymous, and their voice has been disguised.
"I've lived here for 13 years and before then I was in foster and youth shelters. I found out with a flyer underneath my door when I came home one day in September. Yeah and then I looked up some information online about it. So I was a bit scared."
They say the announcement has only added to the community's already worsening housing insecurities.
"It's pretty intense. It's a really big thing and I've been in really insecure housing before this, and I had it in my mind that this would be the first safe place I would have and I've had to stay here for a long term. So that really really stressed me out."
But this isn’t the first time the Victorian government has faced scrutiny over its treatment of public housing tenants.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns in Victoria, strict and sudden lockdowns left thousands of Melbourne's public housing tenants trapped without warning in their units, many without access to food or medicine.
The Victorian Ombudsman later found the government's decisions and treatment of tenants was not only contrary to law but was also in breach of human rights.
The government says the current public housing towers are derelict and out of date with current standards.
Now, the distrust that some tenants already felt towards the government is worsening.
"With how COVID happened, the general understanding was that they were going to let it fall into disrepair so they would have this excuse, plus COVID on top, with the way that they treated us, to push forward with this kind of plan. Because I always had it in the back of my head that they were doing this on purpose, to let it fall into disrepair, to have this chance. I don't know but, I didn't know it was going to happen so soon."
Currently, Victoria has the lowest proportion of social housing of any state in Australia.
A report released in January by the Productivity Commission found that just 2.8 per cent of Victoria's dwellings are allocated to social housing.
The national average sits at 4.1 per cent.
The government's announcement to demolish the public housing towers, while promising to expand and rebuild social housing, is prompting concerns about a lack of detail in the plans.
Social housing is an umbrella term, referring to both public housing and community housing.
CEO of the Victorian Public Tenants Association, Katelyn Butterss, explains the difference.
"Public Housing is the traditional model of public housing or commission housing that we have known in Australia for a very long time. They are homes that are usually owned but always managed by the director of housing. Rent in these properties is capped at 25% of household income and property is allocated on the basis of urgency of need."
She says a key difference between the two is how the housing is allocated, but that the waiting time for both public and community housing is often very long.
"Community Housing was designed to, I suppose, supplement and add to the public housing mix, but not to replace it. The rent can be slightly more expensive. In Victoria community housing providers are charities but because they are not the government, they do have wider discretion around who they have to allocate properties to and how many of those allocations have to come from the priority section of the waiting list. So, there are some very specific differences. It doesn't mean that one is bad and one is good but it does mean that we do have to have both."
Currently, all 44 of the high-rise towers are allocated to public housing.
Many residents fear the plan to build more social housing will involve turning public land into a mix of publicly and privately owned social and affordable housing, which may mean developers have the power to displace existing residents and make profit on what was once public land.
Katelyn Butterss says while more social housing is always a good thing, she thinks the government's current plans may not be enough to curb demand.
"I think there's a real opportunity to increase the amount of social housing on these sites far beyond what government has committed to. They've committed to a 10% increase in the social housing at the VPTA, we're never going to say no to more social housing but we will often say, more plays in terms of social housing, especially new public housing."
The class action argues that the government's decision to knock down the towers interferes unlawfully with the group members' homes and families.
Louisa Bassini says one of the biggest concerns is that public housing tenants will agree to community housing options without being properly informed of the differences.
"I mean, this is one of the main concerns that we have, especially because it's already happening now we know of people are being offered Community Housing homes and accepting them, probably without fully understanding the implications this has for their rights. So we sought not just assurances from government but undertakings or some legally enforceable mechanism that would be able to be signed by both parties... No such document has been provided to people."
While many fear the decision will make their place in public housing insecure, not everyone thinks the plan is a bad idea.
Emma Dawson is the executive director of Per Capita, an independent policy analysis centre working to fight inequality in Australia.
She says while the communication could have been handled better, she agrees the buildings need replacing.
“A lot of the towers that were built under part of this policy are really out of date in terms of them being fit for purpose as modern houses. They’re highly inaccessible. A lot of them are not accessible to people with disabilities or older people. They are very hard to heat and very hard to cool. I think the decision was made, after looking at the various options for replacing them - and replacing them with more modern sustainable housing that can be adequately provided to be accessible, have universal design principles, and that kind of thing - if that's what we're going to end up with then I think this is the right thing to do.“
Katelyn Butterss says there has been a range of responses from tenants, from those who already wanted to relocate to others for whom the news of relocation was a devastating blow.
"No matter where you sit on that spectrum, receiving a knock on your door, and advice that you will be moving effectively whether you would have chosen to or not, is really stressful and distressing for people and we shouldn't underestimate how stressful and distressing, that can be."
The Victorian Government's plans currently indicate the public housing towers will be demolished by 2051.
The first tower replacements, planned in Carlton, Flemington and North Melbourne, are set to be completed by 2031.
