PEOPLE ON THE VICTORIAN HOUSING REGISTER WAITING LIST AT END OF MARCH 2023
The SPHC website is a dynamic space for everyone to access information about the Public Housing Renewal Program and public housing in general. We aim to provide comprehensive resources for tenants, as well as the wider community, to engage with.
Housing struggle has existed here since 1788
Public housing in Australia is built on the stolen, unceded lands of sovereign Indigenous nations. This fact means that the struggle for housing justice in Australia should be considered in its longer social and historical context. For as Tanganekald legal scholar Irene Watson once observed, the housing crisis for Indigenous people in Australia began in 1788.
In this way, we acknowledge that the loss of public housing is intrinsically connected with the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples of their lands. When public-private partnerships are enacted to redevelop public housing land in Australia, these do not merely privatise public land but further entrench the operation of Indigenous dispossession.
All of these trends are also connected with deeper processes that cause displacement and ecological degradation both here in Australia and globally. The fight for housing is not merely a fight for shelter. To be securely housed in a place where ties of belonging can be established and sustained is fundamental to a good life. For everyone. To deny that ability is part of the logic of extractive colonial-capitalism that affects the lives of many people around the world.
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung / Bunurong peoples on whose lands we live and work in the Save Public Housing Collective. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging as sovereign peoples of Country. This acknowledgement is part of our commitment to work in solidarity with struggles for Indigenous land justice.
ACTION:
SIGN the OPEN LETTER TO stop the demolition of melbourne’s 44 public housing towers
…and check out the growing list of community sector organisations, grassroots groups and public officials that have endorsed the letter here.
