This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Victorian Supreme Court has thrown out a class action launched by residents of public housing towers that are set to be demolished by the state government.
The Victorian government announced last year as part of its Housing Statement it would demolish Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers, which house around 10,000 people, and replace them with housing for around 30,000 by 2051 – although only 11,000 would be in social housing. The remaining 19,000 would be living in an as-yet-undetermined mixture of social and market housing. Homes Victoria data released in recent weeks showed Victoria currently has a public housing application list of nearly 58,500.
The government said the buildings are reaching the end of their lifecycle and are no longer fit for modern living, and promised every tenant living across the towers a home while the redevelopment rolls out.
Five towers, in Carlton, North Melbourne and Flemington, are expected to be replaced by 2031.
A number of residents were dismayed by the decision and the disruption it would cause to their lives. Led by lead plaintiff and tower resident Barry Berih, a class action was launched in January on behalf of 484 residents living in the first three towers set for demolition.
Their lawyers argued that announcement of the redevelopment in within the Housing Statement was invalid because only Homes Victoria held the power, under the Housing Act, to move the tenants and redevelop the land.
But Justice Melinda Richards said the claim had “no real prospect of success, and so must be summarily dismissed,” she said.
“My reasons for the decision are still in draft form, I hope to be able to publish them in the course of next week.”
However, Richards suggested a new class action trial could go ahead if the residents and their lawyers were able to reframe their argument at a later date. The case will come back before the court on 31st May.
Louisa Bassini of Inner Melbourne Community Legal said public housing residents would continue to protect their rights.
“The public housing towers are home to vibrant and diverse communities of people who rely on each other and that housing for their safety and well-being,” she said.
Relocation agreements have been signed by 427 of the residents driving the class action.
The towers no longer meet many of Victoria’s Better Apartment Design Standards and fail against metrics for noise, sustainability, waste and recycling, bedroom area dimensions, room depth, ventilation, private open space, accessibility and minimum amenity, according to the government. Some have called for the government to alternatively retrofit the buildings using methods that wouldn’t put people out of secure housing for such an extend period of time.
This year, students at Melbourne University’s Melbourne School of design pitched ideas for the city’s public housing towers, keeping in mind the prefabricated construction which doesn’t allow for alteration of walls or any further weight loaded onto them. Instead, the tower’s single-sided corridor design could present the opportunity to add new structures to the corridor sides of the towers, built from the ground up and providing additional bracing to the existing towers, rather than adding any load to them.
