Government plan for hundreds of private apartments on public housing block in Brighton smashed

A PLAN to build nine-storey private apartment towers on housing commission land in Brighton has been slammed by neighbours.

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BRIGHTON residents have slammed the State Government for their plan to build nine-storey private apartment towers on housing commission land.

Despite a chronic shortage of public properties in Melbourne, the Department of Health and Human Services want to instead build nearly 450 private units on the New St block.

They will increase the current number of public dwellings by just 10 per cent, to about 140, while creating three times as many new non-public housing apartments.

Neighbours have set up the North Brighton Residents Action Group to rally opposition to the plan, which will bypass normal council planning processes.

Justin Mottram said they were completely shocked when they saw its scale, as it will “benefit developers rather than the community”.

The existing run-down public housing at the end of Airlie St, Brighton. Picture: Chris Eastman

“The renewal of public housing is well overdue, we are very supportive of that,” Mr Mottram said.

“But this will basically be massive slabs, up to nine storeys high; we will have no say, there is a complete lack of transparency in the process.”

Neighbour Anthony Feigl said the one-off sale of public assets for private development was “like selling the farm”.

“This will do nothing to address the state’s public housing crisis,” Mr Feigl said.

Bayside Mayor Alex del Porto said they were alarmed at the plans, which provided inadequate public housing and were almost three times the mandatory height limit for the area.

“This development represents a one-off fire sale of an important and finite community resource,” he said.

“The construction of these towers will fundamentally alter this part of Bayside.”

DHHS spokeswoman Ruth Ward said the plans aimed to encourage discussion and gather community feedback, and were only a representation of what might be possible on the site.

She said heights and storey levels were still to be determined.

Action group: northbrightonresidentsaction.org

DHHS details: housing.vic.gov.au/brighton-renewal