Opinion: A missed opportunity to preserve Victoria’s public housing

The recent handdown of the Victorian Housing Statement included some big promises – a mammoth 80,000 new homes and greater protections for private renters.  

However, beneath the surface of this promising news lies a pressing concern: will our state’s public housing remain public?  

As the peak body for people in public housing, we welcome the commitments to improving living conditions in social housing, but we urge the government to ensure that these new developments remain publicly owned and publicly managed. This is not just an imperative; it is the heart of a sustainable and equitable housing future for all Victorians.  

Our advocacy work in the social housing sector has exposed the increased need for new housing and for more assistance. Our caseload has doubled in the past 12 months.  

Community housing, while essential, differs significantly from public housing. Public housing is the bedrock upon which many vulnerable individuals and families build their lives. It offers security, stability, and affordability in a way that research shows community housing often cannot.    

Our call to action is simple: we urge the government to commit to ensuring that all new homes built on existing sites are designated as publicly owned and managed social or affordable housing.   

Failing to make this commitment would constitute a missed opportunity to supply the safe, accessible public housing that Victorians both need and deserve.   

While we emphasise the importance of publicly owned and managed social housing, we also acknowledge and applaud the government’s commitments to creating a pipeline of future social housing stock.   

However, we must also consider the sanctity of public land. We urge the government to unequivocally rule out the sale of any public land, on which there is existing public housing.   

Public land should remain a cornerstone of our efforts to provide safe and affordable housing for those in need.   

Every night in Victoria more than 100,000 people sleep rough, in their cars, on a couch, or somewhere else unsafe and impermanent. Victoria needs to build a minimum of 60,000 new social housing properties to even begin to address this problem.   

With so much need present in our communities, it is unconscionable to sell public land to private developers.    

This land is an incredibly valuable community asset. Once sold, it will never again be in public hands.   

Everyone deserves access to transport, work, schools and the vibrant culture Melbourne has to offer. If the density of these sites is to be increased drastically, the housing on it should be public or affordable housing. Not private market housing.   

Other commitments announced are steps in the right direction. But we must ensure that they do not overshadow the urgent need to safeguard the core of our social housing system: publicly owned and managed housing.  

We echo the voices of many in our community by calling for the immediate release of the full Social Housing Regulatory Review.    

This review, commissioned at the outset of the Big Housing Build initiative, was intended to ensure best-practice tenancy management for all social housing renters.   

Its goal was to empower renters and place their voices at the center of decisions affecting their lives.   

As Victoria’s social housing sector continues to grow, the gap between the rights and protections between those in public and community housing widens. We must bridge this gap and ensure equitable treatment for all.   

The recent announcement is indeed a positive step toward addressing the housing crisis facing our state but we must remain vigilant and insist on transparency, public ownership, and public management of these vital housing resources.   

Katelyn Butterss

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Katelyn Butterss has worked for VPTA since 2019 with the aim to give voice to people in public housing, and to improve and expand the public housing system in Victoria. She was appointed CEO in 2021.

The Victorian Public Tenants Association (VPTA) is the peak body for public housing in Victoria, representing people who live in public housing and also those who are on the wait list.

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