Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): My question is for the Minister for Housing.
What steps have the Victorian government taken during the circuit-breaker period and beyond to support public housing tenants in the Northcote electorate?
Many public housing tenants currently call our suburbs home, and over the past two years I’ve enjoyed getting to know many of these residents through morning teas, drop-ins and reaching out to provide assistance.
Several of our estates are also supported by incredible local organisations like Merri Outreach Support Services, SPAN Community House and Jika Jika Community Centre.
And I was pleased to work with some of these organisations during the peak of the pandemic to help organise and deliver essentials like hand sanitiser, masks and information in multiple languages.
More recently, I’ve had the chance to speak with residents in several local sites about the safe reopening of their community rooms. These spaces are incredibly important to residents—not just to access amenities and programs, but as a way to socialise and connect with each other. And I have written to the minister directly about reopening these rooms for residents as soon as possible.
Restrictions are challenging for each and every member of our community. But we know that there are Victorians who have found the pandemic particularly difficult, including public housing residents.
Often impacted by systemic vulnerabilities, locals living in public housing are at higher risk of more severe impacts from restrictions, whether those be economic, social or indeed health impacts.
It is therefore critical that a core part of our ongoing response to the pandemic is ensuring that our most vulnerable residents receive the support they need, including being assisted to participate in the commonwealth’s vaccine rollout.
My community would welcome hearing more about how we are supporting our public housing tenants during this difficult time.
