Save Barak Beacon: Joint statement

We the undersigned call on Minister for Housing Colin Brooks to protect and invest in genuine public housing. We ask that you:

1. Retain 100% genuine public housing at the Barak Beacon housing estate, which is publicly owned and managed.

2. Immediately cease demolition works at Barak Beacon and actively engage with the Retain, Repair, Reinvest proposal.

3. Halt all proceedings to evict Margaret Kelly from her home of 25 years, and  ensure all other former residents of Barak Beacon aren’t forcibly displaced from their homes and communities for longer than 12 months from July 2023.

In a growing housing and homelessness crisis, it is unconscionable that the Government would demolish existing housing and privatise public land that could be used for more public housing. Barak Beacon is far from the only estate affected by this mass privatisation. We act in solidarity with tenants across Victoria, and call for all public housing and land to remain in public hands.

The OFFICE feasibility study and ‘Retain, Repair, Reinvest’ model shows it would be significantly more cost effective to refurbish Barak Beacon and would also minimise the distress experienced by residents who have been forced from their homes.

Of particular concern is the Government’s insistence that the Save Barak Beacon campaign is blocking the construction of additional housing, when in fact we would welcome such a move, should it result in an increase of public housing.

However, given the Government has failed to disclose how many dwellings will be publicly owned and managed, it would be reasonable to assume that not one single dwelling will be genuine public housing. Instead the Government continues to rely on the smokescreen of “social housing” to cover up the fact that it is shirking its responsibility to provide public housing.

We strongly oppose the transfer of public housing tenancies to Housing Associations. This sector is subsidised and inefficient in comparison to public housing, tenants are afforded less rights, and these Associations are not subject to the Charter of Human Rights, unlike the Government.

Public housing tenants have just as much right to safe and stable housing as anyone else. We demand you honour and respect this right.

Signed,

Save Public Housing Collective

Friends of Public Housing Victoria

Retain. Repair. Reinvest.

Protect Abbotsford Street Estate (PASE)

Public Housing – Everybody’s Business

Renters and Housing Union

Community Union Defence League

FlatOut

Anti-Poverty Centre

Black Peoples Union

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights

Tomorrow Movement

Australian Unemployed Workers Union

Victorian Greens

Australian Communist Party

Socialist Alliance

Senator Lidia Thorpe

Anti-Poverty Network SA

Class Conscious

Save Preston Market

Better Renting

The Save Barak Beacon campaign was formed by community members to fight for the rights of public housing tenants, and protect and invest in public housing.

We acknowledge that sovereignty of this continent and the many countries that exist within it was never ceded. Justice will never be achieved without justice for First Nations peoples.

To add your group or organisation’s logo email: savebarakbeacon@gmail.com