By Rachael Dexter and Royce Millar
The Victorian government’s plans to demolish Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers is facing a legal challenge, with a class action filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday arguing the redevelopment adversely affects the human rights of thousands of tenants.
Announced as a key part of the state’s landmark housing package in September, then-premier Daniel Andrews promised that all the towers dotted across inner Melbourne would be razed and rebuilt to fit three times as many residents over the next 30 years.
A public housing tower on Racecourse Road in Flemington, one of the first of 44 such towers set for demolition.Credit: Luis Enrique/The Age
But of the 30,000 people who would live at the estates by 2051, 11,000 would be in social housing – 1000 more than occupy the towers now. The remainder would be private apartments, with an unspecified number of so-called “affordable” housing tenants.
A class action writ, filed by Inner Melbourne Community Legal on Wednesday, states the government failed to properly consider the human rights of residents when it decided to redevelop the towers.
It also challenges the state cabinet’s authority to greenlight the plan, noting that such a decision rests with the state’s housing agency, Homes Victoria.
The writ says the decision to redevelop the towers is “incompatible” with a number of human rights, including “arbitrary or unlawful interference with home and family”, “the protection of family”, “the best interests of children”, “property rights and the right to security”.
It names the State of Victoria, Housing Minister Harriet Shing and Homes Victoria as respondents in the case.
Lead plaintiff in the case, community leader Barry Berih, lives at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne – one of the first three towers to be pulled down, alongside 120 Racecourse Road and 12 Holland Street in Flemington.
The class action is being brought on behalf of about 1000 residents of the three towers but the legal service says residents may opt out.
“The decision has taken an emotional and physical toll on me and my community,” said Berih in a statement. “The government didn’t consult with us or tell us about the decision. We found out from the media.”
He said the government had left public tenants in the dark and had failed to explain its plans. “I don’t know where I am going to be living or where I might end up, and the government isn’t giving us the information we need to make decisions.”
Berih has been a vocal critic of the state government in the past, including for a harsh lockdown of nine public housing towers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s second wave.
In May, the then-Andrews government settled a separate class action brought against it over the lockdown on behalf of 3000 public housing towers residents, for $5 million.
Legal service chief executive Elisa Buggy said key questions remained unanswered about the demolition plan, including how it was conceived and whether tenants would retain their public housing status or be moved to “community” housing tenants on possibly higher rents, and whether the new units would be the same size and configurations as the old flats.
“Victorians should know how and why government has made key decisions that impact an individual’s rights,” she said.
“Those decisions should not be shielded from the public because it was a decision made by cabinet. The public has a right to know.”
Buggy said she hoped the class action would lead to a pause in demolition of the towers and the relocation of tenants, and set a precedent for the remaining 41 other towers.
The government and Homes Victoria have previously argued the towers – which are 50 to 70 years old – are beyond their useful life, stating it would cost $2.3 billion over 20 years, or $55 million per tower, just to maintain the buildings without retrofitting them.
Critics of the plan say it would upend the lives of thousands of vulnerable residents, an unfair trade-off for a 10 per cent increase in the number of social housing units.
While some residents have expressed an interest in new facilities citing the rundown conditions at some towers, others have joined public protests against the plan in recent months.
A state government spokeswoman said the towers “fail against noise, sustainability, waste and recycling, bedroom area dimensions, room depth, ventilation, private open space, accessibility and minimum amenity standards”.
She said a “staged consultation process” was underway with affected residents.
“As this matter is before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” she said.
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said her party – which had repeatedly condemned the redevelopment plan – welcomed the class action.
“There are over 120,000 people on the public housing wait list in Victoria yet this government’s solution is to knock down all of our towers and hand the majority of the land over to private developers with no commitment to rebuild public housing,” she said.
Opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said tenants in the “doomed” towers had been “expected to uproot for years from their communities as the Allan government’s demolition plan lacks believable decanting and rehousing options”.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.