VCAT clears way for 68 new public housing units at former Huttonham Estate in Preston
PRESTON will get 68 more public housing units after Darebin Council settled a dispute with the State Government.
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PRESTON will get 68 more public housing units after Darebin Council settled a dispute with the State Government.
The site of the former Huttonham Estate, on Stokes and Penola streets in Preston, has sat empty since it was razed in 2011.
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Darebin Council blocked a State Government redevelopment plan in March on the grounds the proposed public housing units were of poor quality.
The plan involved building 68 new public housing dwellings on the site, with an unknown portion of the land sold for private development.
The council signed off on the plan last week after the Government agreed to make changes to parking, setbacks, lighting and landscaping at a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing.
The decision gives the green light to a three storey building in Stokes St and a four storey building in Penola St.
Housing Minister Martin Foley criticised the council for delaying construction.
“I trust this sensible agreement … will be the beginning of the end of the Greens inner city opposition to our much needed estate renewal program,” he said.
“We can’t condemn another generation to live in housing poverty — that’s why we are building more social housing and providing much needed upgrades.”
But Darebin Mayor Kim Le Cerf said tenants would have suffered under the original plan.
“We’re pleased that through the VCAT process the government agreed to amend their plans and redesign the buildings to a better quality standard,” she said.
“Council views public housing as a serious community issue, not a political issue, and politics should not get in the way of genuine solutions to the public housing crisis.”
Darebin Appropriate Development Association spokeswoman Maria Poletti criticised the changes as “a lot of fiddling around the edges”.
There are more than 30,000 people on waiting lists for public housing in Victoria.
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