The last remaining resident of the Barak Beacon estate in Port Melbourne has been given an eviction notice, with the Victorian government preparing to bulldoze the public housing as part of a controversial redevelopment.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) granted Homes Victoria a possession order this week, allowing the department tasked with relocating tenants to forcibly evict Margaret Kelly on 7 August.
Kelly, 68, has spent more than a year trying to fight the government’s plan to replace the 89 dwellings with a mix of social, affordable and private housing, which is expected to be completed in 2025.
The redevelopment is part of the government’s big housing build, with the government poised to lease the land to a company that will build, operate and maintain the housing for 40 years.
The state government argues the housing in Port Melbourne does not meet current design standards and 300 new dwellings will be built in its place.
The government has promised at least a 10% increase in social homes, but the exact number is not known, nor is how many will be split between public and affordable homes. Old tenants will get the first right of return when the redevelopment is completed.
But the Greens say the government’s “public-private housing program has completely failed”, arguing it is driving an increase in the public housing waitlist and worsening the levels of homelessness.
When Kelly moved in to Barak Beacon she was a 43-year-old single mum who had spent years in and out of different homes.
The housing estate gave her stability. She raised her son, who now has an international career as a game developer, grew flowers in the garden and watched as her neighbour’s children grew up.
She said she was “shattered” to be having to fight to stay in her home.
“This was our safe home,” she said. “And that’s what it’s been for so many tenants.”
Kelly, who received the possession order this week, said the police would have “to carry her out” in August.
“It felt like a physical blow when I got it,” she said.
“The government has made a general statement, that a proportion will be social housing … but that’s a very different thing from public housing, because it’s run by a private association.
“There are 89 family homes on the property. So that means they will add another 8.9 residences. But they will be small one-bedroom residences, not the family homes that we have here now.”
A government spokesperson insisted the land was not being sold off. “We’re getting on and delivering more than 300 new homes at the site, which includes at least 10% more social housing as well as a mixture of affordable and market rental housing, including some disability accommodation,” the spokesperson said.
“No land is being sold as part of the Barak Beacon redevelopment, and the government will retain ownership of all new properties.”
The leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam, savaged the prospect of “knocking down public homes and booting out residents for the sake of privatisation” during a housing crisis.
“The government’s public-private housing program has completely failed and is the reason we are seeing the public housing waitlist grow, while homelessness worsens,” Ratnam said.
“If other estates are anything to go by, Barak Beacon will be flattened and no homes will be rebuilt for years like we saw at the Walker Estate in Northcote, where the site has laid vacant for five years.
