In 2026, the social housing ecosystem of Melbourne’s inner south is undergoing severe disruption, reflecting broader systemic shifts in housing policy and increasing reliance on market-based and community housing models. Southside Justice is responding on multiple fronts to the compounding impacts these changes are having on residents.
We are responding to residents impacted by the announcement earlier this year of ‘Tranche 3’ of the Victorian government’s redevelopment of high-rise public housing sites across Melbourne. This program represents a significant transformation of the public housing system, raising concerns about displacement, loss of public housing stock and long-term affordability and security of replacement housing.
This includes the planned demolition of four older person’s high-rise buildings in Prahran, St Kilda and Albert Park, announced at the end of January. We are providing information and advice to residents about their options and rights amid Homes Victoria’s planned relocations of residents, with a focus on ensuring that residents are able to make informed decisions
Simultaneously, we are assisting Oasis community housing residents affected by the proposed sale of their homes by Housing First, a community housing provider historically based in and serving the City of Port Phillip area. This situation highlights the increasing financial and operating pressures facing community housing providers, where consequences can have a significant impact on residents.
We have also been providing legal assistance to and advocating for residents previously relocated from public housing – in particular the Barak Beacon estate in Port Melbourne – who are now facing the consequences of precarious ‘head-leasing’ tenancy arrangements. The reporting in The Age featuring Southside Justice clients Gail and Laura highlights this issue.
Alongside this work, with funding from the City of Port Phillip, we have also been able to assist private renters in the City of Port Phillip experiencing tenancy law problems including rent increases and getting minimum rental standards affecting health and safety addressed. This demand reflects the broader pressures in the private rental market, where weak enforcement of minimum standards continues to place renters at risk.
To complete the spectrum, following Port Phillip City Council voting to amend the local law, which Southside Justice strongly opposed, new powers to impound ‘encampment equipment’ from rough sleepers in certain circumstances have come into effect as of 1 June 2026. These changes form part of a wider trend across Australia toward the regulation and criminalisation of homelessness. Southside Justice is committed to monitoring and challenging the implementation and use of these powers and to supporting other local services to do so, while continuing to advocate for responses that address structural drivers of homelessness.
Where to from here?
The challenges outlined here are complex and evolving. Addressing them will require coordinated action that centres the voices of those most impacted. We continue undeterred in our commitment to uphold the fabric of social care and push for systemic change that strengthens, rather than fragments, housing security for all community members.
-Jess Richter, Director Policy and Advocacy
