We are the Collingwood public housing residents, local community and supporters.

The state government plans to build two new apartment blocks over our green space, basketball courts, playground, car parking spaces and picnic areas on Wellington Street, Collingwood. 

Most of the housing will cost up to 80% market-rate to live in - unaffordable for most people.

Public housing residents say NO! to building over our green space.

This is our home. We do not want to lose our space for our children to play. After two years of lockdown these spaces are very important to us.
 

Many people on the estate have accessibility issues and need access to vehicles and parking. We do not want to lose our parking at 240 Wellington St and Emerald Street. Vulnerable residents, their carers and support workers need to be able to park nearby. We also do not want the community space underneath the Collingwood Neighbourhood House to be taken away to use for parking! This is not a good alternative! It is 500m away and it is an important community space for us as well as the broader community!
 

The Collingwood housing estate is already overcrowded. Our apartments are small, we don’t have gardens or balconies and the playground is already not big enough. How can you squeeze hundreds more people onto our estate?
 

We urgently need new public housing, and welcome it in our neighbourhoods, so why is the government building privatised housing on public housing land?

The state government owns a lot of vacant properties in Collingwood and Clifton Hill that would be more suitable for new housing developments without taking away important public housing land. Collingwood is the most open-space deprived suburb in the area, at only 0.3% open space compared to the average of 13.5% and other suburbs like Clifton Hill at 24%. Why is the state government building over green space instead of in built up areas?
 

The community has been locked out of the planning process. You have not consulted properly with us and you have not answered our request for a meeting to share our concerns. Why are you bypassing the normal permit approvals and the community’s right to object? Any other resident would have the right to have a say if someone wanted to build in their backyard. Why should public housing residents have no rights and no voice?
 

We ask Minister for Housing, Richard Wynne, Minister Lily d'Ambrosio and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria to call off the plans to build over public housing communal space.

We need your support to SAY NO!