Wednesday, 6 March 2024

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:17): (447) My question today is to the Minister for Housing. The Bell Bardia public housing estate in Heidelberg West was demolished years ago, and the Labor government’s promise was to:

… replace old housing that does not meet the needs of –

tenants –

… with well designed, attractive homes that improve the local area.

That is from 2020. However, instead this enormous site has sat empty for years. When will new social homes be built at the Bell Bardia estate?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:17): Thank you, Mr Puglielli, for your interest in social housing and the developments across Victoria that are continuing to address need and to work alongside a range of supports and initiatives from homelessness and crisis accommodation through to temporary housing, maintenance, repairs, upgrades and of course the delivery of new stock. We are continuing to partner with communities on the development of housing, including through the nation-leading ground lease model, and this is something we are determined to make sure is invested in and delivered in a way that is fit for purpose and that also has at its heart a reference to community design and consultation so that tenants and residents have the connectivity, the livability and the pride of place that means that they can continue to contribute and to build really wonderful lives in that community.

As far as the Heidelberg development is concerned, we are continuing to work with councils, communities and community organisations to make sure that that community housing is developed and delivered, and we do want to make sure that we are building that through a comms plan to get federal engagement. The Commonwealth government is at the heart of the work that we are doing, and we do want to make sure that in delivering stage 1 we are doing so in a way that is fit for purpose. I am looking forward to giving you further updates, Mr Puglielli – very happy to make sure that you are kept abreast of those developments as they occur.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:19): Thank you, Minister, for that information. I would definitely be keen to receive further updates from you. As you have noted in this place, even just now, and as many of us also have, the building of these homes is absolutely urgent. This is a site that was a public housing estate where the former public housing tenants had been turfed out in the process of demolition, and now it has sat empty for some years. Frankly, not acceptable – we need to see these homes built as soon as is humanly possible. By way of supplementary, my question is: how many public or community homes will be built on this site, and when will tenants be able to move in?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:20): Thank you, Mr Puglielli. Again, this is part of a matrix of delivering housing in a really efficient way and delivering, building, planning, finalising and relocating tenants back into new housing, including as part of a right of return, as soon as practicable. We are working on design and making sure that when we deliver that case for approval we have that project timing delivered with the Commonwealth, with the construction completion planned for the beginning of 2027, noting that this is alongside a range of other projects which are occurring in and around the area. We do need to make sure that we are delivering housing around metropolitan Melbourne, and we know that when and as residents identify the priority areas for allocation we are meeting their needs in terms of not just the configuration of housing but also the connections that they have to communities, which also means that we want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and that it meets a range of needs, not just for now but also into the future. We look forward to continuing to engage with you, Mr Puglielli.