Victorian Labor's hard lockdown of residents in public housing estates works against its purported goal and feeds racism against migrant communities, argues Sue Bolton.
public housing estates
The Huttonham Estate in Preston was one of Victoria’s first public housing estates when it was built in the 1940s.
Once home to 60 families, the houses were demolished five years ago and the land has been untouched and vacant ever since.
Now the Victorian government has revealed plans to build 68 public housing units and an unknown number of privately-owned dwellings on the land.
Housing groups say the land should be used for its intended purpose of housing low-income residents amid skyrocketing property prices in Melbourne.
The New South Wales Baird government has announced an historic decision to privatise public housing.
In a $22 billion bonanza for the government's property developer mates, public housing estates will be torn down and rebuilt into places where private tenants and homeowners outnumber social housing tenants by 70% to 30%.
NSW Coalition Minister for Social Housing Brad Hazzard announced the state government's "Future Directions for Social Housing" policy. It includes the transfer of 35% of public housing to community housing organisations.
