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Victoria is facing a housing crisis.

More than 33,000 Victorians are on the public housing waiting list.

The flawed Public Housing Renewal Program (PHRP) is part of the State Government’s response.

Through the PHRP the State Government will hand over development rights of public housing sites to developers.

All the developers need to do is build 10% more public housing dwellings than currently on the site.

They will also be allowed to cram new apartments on the sites which they can then sell for profit on the private market.

To tell the State Government to put people before profits, send an email to the Minister for Housing, Martin Foley, and the Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne.


Email the Ministers

Who we are and what we want

The Cities of Bayside, Boroondara and Stonnington have formed the Proper Planning for Public Housing Alliance to challenge the PHRP.

The PHRP is fatally flawed. It will sell public housing sites to developers, breach the Government’s own recently-introduced planning controls and barely make a dent in the public housing waiting list.

That’s why we are calling on the Government to delay the program until the Parliamentary Inquiry has been completed, and ensure redeveloped sites are at least 50% public housing and do not breach current planning controls.

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Our concerns

The PHRP will see the Minister for Planning and Minister for Housing breach their government’s own planning controls while doing little to respond to the housing crisis.

Developers will make massive profits by cramming in thousands of private apartments on public housing land and in return they will build only a small number of new public housing dwellings.

And if the Minister for Planning installs himself as the Planning Authority, third party appeal rights could be removed and councils and residents denied a say on development in their streets.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s Plan Melbourne policy promises greater certainty about what can be built and where. But it seems the Victorian Government doesn’t need to stick to their own rules. The PHRP may lead to:

  • Recently introduced 3-storey height limits making way for huge 9-storey towers.
  • Open space and playgrounds making way for thousands of new private apartments crammed in to maximise developer profits.
  • Third party appeal rights being removed.
  • Public housing land effectively being sold to private developers, forgoing any potential future redevelopments.

Meeting local needs

Research conducted by NERA Economic Consulting and Sensing Value found:

  • The 10% increase in public housing stock envisaged by the PHRP is not enough
  • The Government’s sell-off of public housing land will mean that by 2022, across Alliance councils, one out of three families in need of public housing may be left homeless
  • Within the next five years, 1,100 more public housing dwellings will be needed to meet demand across Alliance areas
  • The 10% uplift in public housing will need to be tripled to stem the crisis and meet the expected demand for public housing in Alliance member areas by 2022.

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