Carlton’s public housing residents brace for rent increases 

Carlton public housing residents have raised concerns about looming rent increases due to come into effect from August 18, questioning how the adjustments align with market values given the substandard condition of many units. 

The increase follows a five-year review by the Victorian Government’s authority on statutory valuations, the Valuer-General Victoria (VGV), which makes assessments on a range of factors, including property age, size, and type, comparing them to the private rental market in the area.

With the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) basing the “full” market increase on the VGV’s independent valuation, around 160 residents in Carlton were notified of the change via a letter sent on June 6. 

“Residents in Carlton and North Melbourne particularly have been the most affected because market values are obviously really high,” Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre’s (CNLC) community development manager Elle Morrell told Inner City News.

With public housing rents calculated at 25 per cent of household income, Ms Morrell, whose organisation supports many vulnerable residents in Carlton, highlighted that households with a higher income would face higher increases. 

“The increase is having a huge impact mainly on people who are working, but generally these are very low-income jobs like aged care, childcare and cleaning,” Ms Morrell said. 

If the husband’s working, the mother’s working and they’ve got some children who are older, all of that income comes into play. A lot of stress and fear and anxiety has come as a result.

Although some residents may be eligible for a rental rebate if their new rental amount is more than 25 per cent of their household income, Ms Morrell noted that this information had been “poorly communicated” by the DFFH.

“It wasn’t well promoted in the letters that went out – it was just like one line at the end. This is also another form that residents have to then fill out to apply for,” she said.

“For people with low literacy levels or English as a second language, understanding bureaucratic forms is really hard. As a not-for-profit organisation, we are happy to help, but it’s creating a whole new service that we don’t get funded for.”

The DFFH told Inner City News that an additional letter was sent to residents clarifying the application process for rental rebates and a hardship provision available to renters under financial stress.

The department has also made “proactive contact” with renters who pay market rent to inform them of their eligibility to apply for a rental rebate and other available support services.

However, Ms Morrell and residents are concerned with the rent increases “being pegged against private rental of a lot higher standard of living than what you get at the housing estate”.

“There are often huge maintenance issues like lifts being out every couple of weeks, and if you live on the 19th floor and you’re elderly, you can’t walk up all those stairs every couple weeks. There are water leaks, there’s no air conditioning in the summer, and there’s a lot of safety and security issues” Ms Morrell said.

There needs to be awareness that public housing isn’t cheap. It can be a really bad standard of living, and then your income leaves you with only $50 a fortnight to eat and pay bills.

Amid the state government’s redevelopment of 44 public housing towers across Melbourne and the urgent need for “safe and secure housing”, Ms Morrell said that residents were in a “state of anxiety” about the future of their living situations. 

“It’s just a whole atmosphere of not knowing, and not feeling like they’ve got control over their living situation,” she told Inner City News.

“When something big like a redevelopment comes on, that often sucks all the energy and things like a rent rise are missed. But this is impacting people now in their lives, so that’s why I think it’s important to be aware of it and try to work with the community to understand the system and try to avoid this electric shock in their budget.”

Greens State MP for Melbourne Ellen Sandell, who met with public housing residents at a community meeting in Carlton on June 26, described the rent increases as “outrageous” and a “heartless move” by the state government.

“First Labor plans to demolish and privatise public housing across Melbourne, and now they’re slapping some of our most vulnerable public housing tenants with huge rent increases of nearly 100 per cent – this is outrageous,” Ms Sandell said. 

“What a heartless move from the Labor State Government to slap public housing tenants with a nearly 100 per cent rent increase when we’re in the middle of a housing crisis.”

“The Labor State Government is already one of the worst landlords in the state, with public housing residents waiting years for basic maintenance, and now Labor are jacking up the rent on their tenants by a ridiculous amount.”

“This needs to be reversed, and instead Labor should adopt the Greens proposal for a rent freeze across the whole state to give renters some breathing space.” 

The community meeting held at the Church of All Nations on June 26 heard from residents on a range of concerns, with some expressing anger at the demolition and lack of information about where they would be housed during construction. •