Why residents were forced to flee public housing flats
Residents of 20 public housing flats in Richmond were forced to evacuate this week after authorities raised the alarm over a new dangerous cladding threat.
VIC News
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Residents have been forced to leave three inner-city blocks of flats after a new cladding threat emerged this week.
Dangerous cladding was found on three four-storey public housing buildings on Lennox St, Richmond, despite records indicating the buildings were safe.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Cladding Safety Victoria were told and 24-hour security was immediately set up at the site.
Up to 50 people were given the chance to move and residents of all 20 flats voluntarily moved to alternative housing nearby.
Authorities had assumed the site was already safe after initial investigations of records found no evidence of cladding in multistorey public housing buildings. But this week it was found a group of government-owned buildings were used as trial sites for a new type of insulation more than two decades ago.
A potentially dangerous expanded polystyrene product was used under a vinyl-wrapped aluminium finish.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said contractors were removing the cladding.
Housing Minister Richard Wynne said once the problem was found, authorities moved quickly to ensure the safety of residents and remove the cladding.
“We’ve been extremely thorough in going through our records to check this cladding renovation was a one-off and that it was fixed as soon as possible,” he said.
Opposition planning spokesman Tim Smith said the government should be more transparent about cladding across the state.
“The government must come clean with the people of Victoria as to how widespread catastrophic cladding is,” he said. “It is particularly important on vulnerable public housing estates.”
Residents of the three buildings — 15 and 21 Lennox St and 97 Elizabeth St — have been leaving their homes over the past week. Most were being moved to a high-rise block at 108 Elizabeth St.
David Jiang, who has lived in the block for 10 years, said Office of Housing staff called in on residents to inform them of the problem.
“We were told to move out because of the flammable cladding,’’ Mr Jiang said
Another woman said: “It’s very inconvenient. We have to move everything.’’
The public housing estate in North Richmond is the biggest in Australia. Most of the buildings were built during the 1950s and 1960s.
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