Photo by Awab Mohamed Z Elbashir
The Labour Government plans to demolish and redevelop all 44 public housing towers around Melbourne by 2051.
The notice came quietly, slipped into mailboxes like any ordinary letter. But for many of the residents, it marked the beginning of the end. What was seen by some as an eyesore was, for others, a sanctuary. The walls of these towers had witnessed birthdays, weddings, graduations, childbirths, and funerals. And yet, to the builders stepping onto the site, it was just another tower to be demolished.
A Plan Years in the Making
This demolition is part of a much larger plan, Victoria’s Big Housing Build initiative, or more specifically the public housing tower redevelopment.
The plan was announced by Victoria’s Labor government in 2023. The aim of the project is to demolish all 44 of the state’s public housing towers and redevelop the sites by 2051.
But what happens to the residents who have called these towers home for decades? What happens to the families that were built here and the hallways that echoed children’s laughter?
This story looks at the people, the policies, and the uncertain future of Melbourne’s public housing towers.
The $17 billion project was announced in September of 2023, by then-Premier Daniel Andrews, standing in front of the first redevelopment site — Elgin Towers, Carlton.
Daniel andrews, “The two red brick towers you see behind you will be demolished and replaced with something so much better. They are old, they are out of date, they are no longer fit for purpose. They are derelict.”
Funding the Overhaul
This would be the largest public housing overhaul in Victorian history, with the plan being backed by the Federal Government’s Social Housing Accelerator Fund.
Built in the 1960s, the towers are over 60 years old. Andrews claims it’s cheaper to redevelop than maintain them.
The goal is to replace all the towers with higher-density, mixed-use developments. The Carlton site, for example, will have 10 per cent more housing than it did previously.
While the plan looks great on paper, it doesn’t account for the toll taken on the communities built there.
How the Redevelopment Works
Each tower will be redeveloped in four main stages: Relocation, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Move-in.
Relocation takes approximately two years. Each tenant is contacted by the relocation team and asked about their preferences and needs. The relocation team then matches the tenant to suitable housing elsewhere based on that information.
Once the building is vacated, it is then deconstructed and reconstructed, where it’s rebuilt to suit ‘modern standards.’
The final stage is the move-in stage where people on the waiting list for social housing and previous tenants of the tower are offered the place.
Lives Displaced
While previous tenants may have the option to return, many choose not to, as they would have already settled into new homes, built new connections, and re-established their lives elsewhere.
Abdulrahman Ali is a 67-year-old man who fled Somalia in the early 1990s during the civil war. He arrived in Australia with his three children and wife and has been a resident of 33 Alfred Street for 28 years.
"They say the new buildings will be better,” Ali said. “But my neighbour Ahmed had to move already to a flat far far away with no halal shops or Somali uncles to help.”
So how long does it take to redevelop a whole tower? Let’s look at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne as an example.
According to The Big Housing Build website, the relocation notices were sent out in September of 2023, with the aim of emptying out the building by September 2025.
After emptying the buildings, deconstruction and reconstruction can take anywhere from six to eight years.
The North Melbourne tower redevelopment is due for completion by 2031.
"I am old, they say I can come back in eight years,” Ali said. “Eight years? I may not live eight years.”
The number of units expected to be sold privately remains unclear, which concerns many.
One of the many controversies surrounding this redevelopment is the inclusion of private developers. The use of private developers lowers the cost of the project for the state, as they will contribute money to the rebuild, but it also means units will be sold privately.
From Public to Social Housing
Another major change that will come from this redevelopment is the shift from public housing to community housing. The towers are currently public housing, and while the two seem similar, there are a few key differences.
Public housing is run and maintained by the state government, making it more expensive for the state. Things like maintenance, repairs and admin work are all billed to the state.
Whereas community housing is run by a not for profit and funded by both the state and the federal government through Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA). So, for the state government, it’s cheaper. They take on less responsibility and hand over the admin and upkeep to another organisation.
Rent for public housing tenants is capped at 25 per cent of their income, whereas in community housing, it’s capped at 30 per cent.
The Cost of Outsourcing
Leading the conversation is design and research practice, OFFICE, who believe homelessness will only increase and it will cost taxpayers more to demolish the building.
Their 171-page report argues that the towers should be renovated and expanded instead of rebuilding them altogether, using Flemington as an example.
OFFICE directors, Simon Robinson and Steve Mintern told The Design Files that the government has other motives.
“When the state government manages public housing, they are responsible for maintaining the buildings and organising new tenants — all the admin that comes with owning a building,” Robinson explained.
Community housing, by contrast, shifts those responsibilities to not-for-profit providers.
“Basically, the federal government is supporting those community housing associations, whereas they don’t do the same thing for public housing,” Robinson said.
Besides the financial implications, critics are concerned about the way the new redevelopment will be accessed.
Community housing, unlike public housing, can be more selective with the tenants allowed in. Whereas public housing uses a centralised waitlist prioritising the vulnerable like those escaping domestic violence. Over time, this shift could make housing even harder to access for Victoria’s most vulnerable residents.
Communities Lost, Not Just Buildings
The redevelopment will cost approximately $17 billion over 40 years and is being marketed as an upgrade. With a promise of more modern and energy efficient housing.
But for many of the residents living in the public housing towers, it’s not just the buildings being torn down. It’s entire communities.
Research conducted by RMIT academics using census data from 2016-2021, shows the stark picture of the cultural loss at stake. The analysis, which was included in the OFFICE report, shows that at least 69 per cent of tower residents identified as having overseas ancestry.
Many of the residents originate from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, like Ali, bringing with them languages and traditions to share with the community. When he first arrived in Australia, he was allocated to 33 Alfred Street.
“There were so many other Somali families here when I moved in, it was like I never left home,” Ali said. “We spoke the same language, cooked the same food and helped each other.”
Data provided to the ABC from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing puts the rate of previous tenants returning after redevelopment at 13.5 per cent. This figure is based on eligible households across three redeveloped housing sites.
If that figure continues, where only 13.5 per cent of previous residents return to the newly developed towers, Flemington alone could lose up to 86.5 per cent of residents from North and Sub-Saharan African backgrounds. That’s not just population loss; it’s cultural displacement on a massive scale.
What those numbers really mean in practice is something a lot more personal.
Picture the Muslim family on the tenth floor who used to invite the elderly woman across the hall over for iftar. She wasn’t family, but they treated her like it because she spoke the same language and reminded them of home. Without them, she breaks her fast alone.
Picture the single mother upstairs who can no longer rely on the neighbour she met in her English class to watch her kids in an emergency, because that neighbour was moved to accommodation 30 minutes away.
The hallways are quieter now, not just because people have left, but because what connected them has too.
Public housing towers like the ones in North Melbourne weren’t just places to sleep, they were an ecosystem of care, safety and survival.
Shared faith, food and culture created a soft landing for new migrants to Australia, and a support system for elderly residents, who would otherwise have no one else to turn to.
“It’s not just buildings being torn down,” ALI said. “It’s the language we spoke in the lift. The kids we looked after and watched grow up. You can’t rebuild that with concrete.”
The buildings may be replaced with something flashy and modern, but is it worth displacing whole communities for just a ten per cent increase in capacity?
The Case for Retrofitting
Let’s imagine for a second that the government decided knocking down the towers wasn’t the best move, what could they do instead?
The report by OFFICE, stated that the existing towers could be refurbished to modern standards for $400,000 per unit, a massive $280,000 discount from the current redevelopment cost of $680,000 per unit. The total cost of refurbishing the units and maintaining them would be $2.3 billion. A huge $14.7-billion discount.
The report also stated that refurbishing the units would also provide a 55 per cent reduction in global warming potential when compared to the knockdown rebuild approach being taken.
And there are examples of this being done before. Look at Scotland’s Cedar Court, a similar public housing tower which was successfully retrofitted in 2019, improving energy efficiency and resident comfort without displacing communities.
Crisis in Context
Looking at the bigger picture, we see that Victoria is in a housing crisis. But will these redevelopments help that, or will it add fuel to the fire?
According to the Council to Homeless Persons, one third of people seeking homelessness assistance in Australia are in Victoria, but Victoria has the lowest proportion of social housing in the country at 2.9 per cent.
“There are now more than 65,000 people on the waitlist for social housing in Victoria,” Council to Homeless Persons’ CEO Deborah Di Natale said. “People are sleeping in cars with their kids, couch surfing or living in public spaces – we need to build more homes to be able to house them.”
The waitlist for social housing hasn’t gone down either, it’s up 4 per cent from the previous year.
Privatisation Concerns
With the introduction of private developers, critics are concerned about how many new units will be designated to social housing and how many will be private developments.
Samantha Ratnam Victorian Greens spokesperson for public and affordable housing, has said this plan isn’t about increasing the amount of social housing available.
“This isn’t about providing more homes for Victorians,” she said. “This is Labor offering up and selling off public land to private developers for massive profits.”
While these towers are being bulldozed, more than 65,000 people are on the waitlist for social housing in Victoria alone.
“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis and Labor is spending hundreds of millions of dollars tearing down and privatising public housing while simultaneously pulling funding from new public and community housing developments,” Ratnam said.
A City Transformed, But at What Cost?
By 2051, Melbourne’s skyline will look different. It’ll be sleeker, taller and more modern. But somewhere beneath the shadow of these towers will lie the quiet stories of those who once called the space home.
The redevelopment has been pitched as a forward-thinking solution to an old system, with promises of efficiency, density and modernity. But as the buildings come down brick by brick, so too do the bonds of community built between families over decades.
The government may rebuild the towers, but rebuilding a community isn’t as simple as pouring concrete and putting up walls.
As the ribbon is cut in the lobby of the first redeveloped tower, the question remains. Who will be standing there in 2051, and what will they remember?
#MelbourneHousing #TowerRedevelopment #BigHousingBuild
Credits:
Awab Mohamed Z Elbashir