Friends of Public Housing (Victoria) · 689 like this 8 minutes ago · FYI From: NATIONAL NEWS [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, 19 June 2013 9:22 AM To: NATIONAL NEWS Subject: (VIC) NORTH RICHMOND AND FITZROY PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN ON HOLD - [NATIONAL NEWS 15863 - 19th JUNE] TSN NATIONAL NEWS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EMAIL IS DELIVERED BCC TO MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS NORTH RICHMOND AND FITZROY PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN ON HOLD Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 By Alana Schetzer The Melbourne Times Weekly Fitzroy and North Richmond’s public housing estates will not be re-considered again for a mix of public and private dwellings until 2017. The Department of Human Services recently replied by letter to a Fitzroy resident who had inquired about the project. The letter said the “Minister for Housing is now seeking agreement from the Australian government to delay completion of the master plan for Fitzroy and Richmond until the end of 2017”. The letter stated that planned upgrades and community-building activities would go ahead as usual. In 2010, the federal government awarded the then-ALP state government $175.3 million from its Housing Affordability Fund to build 547 units for both public and affordable private housing within the grounds of the Fitzroy, North Richmond and Prahran estates. Although never finalised, the proposal to use open land to build private dwellings, plus offices and retail space on the sites, angered residents who lamented the potential loss of the only open land available to them. Atherton Gardens Residents’ Association spokesman Brandan Sahnkovich said residents were more concerned with the regular breaches of safety and security at the estate than the master plan. “They probably want some change to the status quo, but obviously they don’t want to lose their open space,” he said. “Security and safety are the big problems and that’s what residents want to talk about.” Department of Human Services spokesman Brendan Ryan confirmed the government was seeking an extension for the master plan deadline. “After the completion of master planning at Prahran, master planning will recommence for the estates at Richmond and Fiztroy,” he said. The state government began a master plan process to rejuvenate the estates two years ago, proposing a mix of public and private housing. It was suspended this year after locals claimed there had been a lack of consultation and voiced their dis agreement over the direction the project was taking. Housing Minister Wendy Lovell said at the time the plans had been widely misrepresented by opponents, including City of Yarra Council, which has been in conflict with the government about what it claimed was a lack of consultation. “This ill-informed scaremongering is ongoing, and has caused the residents undue stress,” Ms Lovell said. Socialist Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly, who led the Hands Off Melbourne’s Estates campaign, compared the five-year gap between now and the masterplan process being revisited as a lull in hostilities between the two sides. melbournetimesweekly.au/story/1579993/north-richmond-and-fitzroy-public-housing-plan-on-hold/?cs=1219
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:01:51 +0000
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