Wednesday, 29 July 2026

 Rachel WESTAWAY (Prahran) (19:19): (1747) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and the action I seek is that the minister personally intervene to relocate social housing residents in my electorate who are living in dangerous squalor while the government ignores their desperate pleas for help. For too many vulnerable Prahran residents, public housing is no longer a refuge. It has become a place of fear, of distress and of profound emotional exhaustion every single day. Elderly people, families, children and residents living with disabilities report shouting, fights, threats, vandalism, drug-affected behaviour, repeated fire alarms, deliberately lit fires, rubbish thrown from balconies and antisocial conduct continuing throughout the day and the night. I have visited and I have seen it myself firsthand.

People affected by serious drug addiction are being housed alongside elderly residents and children without supervision, without security or support necessary to protect anyone involved. Some are camped out in unsecured lift wells and in foyers, some are even living in the laundry area. Long-term residents describe lying awake after dark, frightened in their own homes. This is Victoria. One elderly resident has endured a fire alarm inside her apartment that has not worked for a month. She has cockroaches crawling up her walls. A rubbish bin was set alight directly beneath her balcony, and residents report other fires involving doors, bins and garages. Police and firefighters have been called, yet vulnerable residents remain exposed to the next emergency.

The physical neglect is equally appalling. Six dumped vehicles were reported to have occupied scarce parking spaces for more than four years. Moss and overgrowth have been left on walkways used by elderly residents and disabled residents, creating slippery hazards. There is black mould creeping through people’s homes. One lady told me that she cannot leave her toothbrush in her bathroom for more than three days because it turns black, and she has got three young children living in there. In addition to that the internet does not work in her apartment, and she has got a child that is doing year ‍12 at my local high school. Gardens are choked with weeds, rubbish hangs from trees and dumping has been allowed to make the complex appear derelict and abandoned. These residents remember a time when their homes were safe, stable and maintained. They have watched that dignity disappear, and it is outrageous. They have written repeatedly to housing authorities and successive ministers. They have gathered signatures and attended my office time and time again. I have contacted the minister before, contacted police and sought meetings with those responsible. Their complaints have yielded no meaningful result and their desperation is absolutely palpable. This is a persistent failure and safety issue. Housing management and basic humanity have been totally lost. No vulnerable Victorian should be condemned to this.