Guest host of The Score, Nana Owusu, speaks to Clare Hansen and Steve Mintern from the Save Public Housing Collective (SPHC) - a volunteer-run collective in so-called Victoria that fights against the state-led abandonment of public housing, displacement and renewal programs.

Clare is a founding member of SPHC and a public housing resident. Steve is a member of SPHC, a landscape architect and a Director at Office, a not-for-profit architecture firm. They discuss how public housing residents have been impacted by the government’s plan to demolish Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers, home to approximately 10,000 residents. Clare and Steve break down how years of 'managed neglect' has led to residents and communities being ignored, abandoned and displaced. They also discuss the lack of consultation with residents, the need for feasibility plans to assess the structure and functionality of public housing buildings, and what residents want moving forward.

Keep up with the Save Housing Public Collective on Instagram and Facebook. Keep up with Office on Instagram.

The next Save Public Housing meeting will be held on Saturday 21 September, 2 pm at the Community Room, 120 Racecourse Road, Flemington. It's an opportunity for local tower residents to have their voices heard. Non-public housing residents are also welcome to attend.

The Save Public Housing Collective website is a dynamic space for everyone to access information about the Public Housing Renewal Program and public housing in general. They aim to provide comprehensive resources for tenants, as well as the wider community, to engage with.

“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.”

Image credit: Save Public Housing Collective