Thursday, 23 February 2023

Port Melbourne public housing

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (17:32): (63) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Housing and relates to the future of the Barak Beacon public housing estate in Port Melbourne and its current residents. The action that I seek is for the minister to meet with residents of Barak Beacon and representatives of Office to discuss the ‘retain, repair and reinvest’ proposal.

The proposed redevelopment of the 40-year-old Barak Beacon site as part of the purported Big Housing Build is painted by Homes Victoria as an efficient solution to providing more housing options for people on low and medium incomes. They also claim that they are committed to supporting current residents to relocate. Last week I met with residents of Barak Beacon, who shared with me their experiences of the relocation process. We know that Victoria is experiencing a severe housing shortage, and many of these residents with complex needs are being pressured at the moment to relocate. Chronic health issues, older age and domestic violence risk were just some of the complexities that were shared with me. We can and we must do better for people who are currently living in our public housing system. Since the government abruptly announced to the residents that it would demolish their homes in late 2021, the number of Victorians on the waiting list for public housing has soared past 120,000, and yet the ground lease model being used for this and other like projects will allow portions of that redevelopment to be market rental homes – that is, places of profit, not homes for people.

If you visited Barak Beacon, Minister, you would be aware of the land’s draw. It is positioned close to public transport, schools, shops, services and employment opportunities, as well as being a short distance from the beautiful foreshore and Melbourne CBD. Redeveloping the land in this way is not a coincidence, it is a political choice to put profit before people. This government may claim that we cannot get any better than the Big Housing Build, but the community is stepping up and presenting realistic solutions that are more compassionate and more cost-effective and will also keep essential housing publicly owned.

The retain, repair and reinvest proposal asserts that we can do better, and it lays out in the finest detail the refurbishment potential of this existing public housing. It ensures housing as a basic human right through retaining existing communities, not relocating; repairing existing buildings to reduce carbon emissions; and reinvesting savings to improve comfort and upgrade public housing. Office, the creators of this report, have put forward a plan that retains the existing buildings and still achieves increased density through infill development. It details how it is economically, environmentally and socially more efficient to retain the existing buildings when compared with the evict, demolish and rebuild proposal through the ground lease model.

Office and residents of Barak Beacon have been unable so far to secure a meeting with the minister. Minister, the residents of Barak Beacon have invited you to join them and representatives of Office to discuss the retain, repair and reinvest report, and I ask you to accept this invitation.