Thursday, 20 March 2025

Housing

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:14): (864) My question is to the minister for housing. Last week the Labor government confirmed that once the public housing towers at North Melbourne and Flemington are demolished, no state-run public housing will be built on these sites. Homes Victoria wrote to Alfred Street residents in November 2023, confirming that after their homes are demolished and rebuilt they have the right to return to the estate and their rent and conditions will not change. Many residents only accepted relocation offers because they were assured that they would be able to return to the same rent and conditions that they have now in public housing – that is, rent capped at 25 per cent of their income. On Tuesday you confirmed to Mr Puglielli that residents have a right of return but not whether their rent or conditions will change. Can the minister publicly confirm that returning residents will have public housing conditions and rent for the long term?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:15): Thank you, Dr Mansfield, for that question. I just want to make it really clear that when we are developing these sites for the purpose of providing housing for up to 30,000 people to accommodate growth and to provide the sort of housing, including for private renters, who as you know and as you have indicated in a number of questions to me in this place are also feeling the challenges of affordability and availability, it is with this in mind that we have announced the ground lease model, which is again, to be really, really clear, not about selling government land – there will be no sale of government land on these sites. We will be making sure that we are engaging in a partnership with the community housing sector – that is, not-for-profit, for-purpose organisations with charitable status who receive GST exemptions – as part of delivering on that housing. I also want to make it clear, as I have already on numerous occasions, that the right of return exists for people to be able to come back either to that site or to the neighbourhood upon completion of a new build, subject to their ongoing eligibility for social housing, which is about their income, and subject to the needs that they have – for example, they began needing three bedrooms and subject to changes over the years only need one or two bedrooms; the list of examples goes on.

I have also been very, very clear that for the duration of relocations, public housing rent settings will apply. What happens after that process will depend upon what it is that individual tenants decide to do, and again, the rent distinctions between public housing and community housing are about making sure that we can access the supports and the services that often exist and are a wraparound for community housing tenants. I also want to be really, really clear: the Residential Tenancies Act applies equally to public and community housing tenants. It covers the broad umbrella of social housing. Social housing is about long-term housing. The development of these sites is about making sure that people have homes to go to. We work so carefully and so closely with people to understand what their needs are but also what their aspirations are. We work alongside interpreters, alongside legal representatives and alongside support people to understand where and how people want to move as those relocations take place. We will continue to do so carefully, respectfully and in a culturally safe way. Upon completion of housing we will also engage with people to make sure that they understand the choices that are available to them, and that may involve the preservation of settings. It may involve a change to settings, but that will be a matter that we work through with people on the ground in the same careful and considered way as we have done our work to date.

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:18): Can I just clarify, to be absolutely crystal clear from your response: after the period of relocation, during which public housing rents and conditions do apply, upon return residents will not necessarily have the same public housing rent or conditions?

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:18): What I will confirm to you is that we will work with residents to determine the settings that are right for them. Where we have settings that apply because of the need for housing, for example, for victim-survivors of family violence or for women with Women’s Housing Limited or Aboriginal tenants and residents, who are again deserving of self-determination as part of the delivery of community housing providers, then those settings will be different. You are again persisting with this narrative that community housing is not able to meet with tenants –

David Davis interjected.

Harriet SHING: I see you nodding at Mr Davis, and yet again this is going to make its way into an imaginative set of social media reels. I just want to be really clear: this is about residents and about tenants, and the answer to that question will depend upon what it is that residents and tenants want to do. We will continue to work with them around the rent settings that are right for them. That does not exclude public housing rent settings. Again, please be aware of the information that you hold and the importance of accuracy.