A majority of the public housing residents at 150 Inkerman Street, St Kilda, have signed a petition calling for the State Government to halt the demolition of their home.
‘We love living at 150 Inkerman Street,’ write more than 60 of the building’s residents. ‘We want to stay.’
150 Inkerman Street is being targeted in the Victorian government’s latest wave of attempted demolitions. Along with residents of six other over-55 older persons flats, the government is trying to force everyone who lives in 150 Inkerman Street out of their homes, starting this year.
‘When we moved here, we were told it would be our forever home,’ residents say in their petition. ‘Some of us elderly people have lived here for over three decades. Now you are trying to uproot all our lives.’
The government announced its attack on the building in January. 150 Inkerman Street comes under a new ‘tranche’ of the State’s plan to destroy all 44 of Naarm/Melbourne’s inner city high-rise flats, and with it, the entire ideal of public housing.
Residents came together to celebrate the petition last Sunday in a community BBQ with live music; several of the performers live in the building. Dozens of people came out in support, including residents from 11 other public housing estates.
‘Preserve this wonderful public housing and our community,’ say the Inkerman Street residents. ‘We
want to live here forever.’
Full text of petition:
To Nick Staikos, Minister for Housing and Building:
We love living at 150 Inkerman Street, St Kilda, and we want to stay.
When we moved here, we were told it would be our forever home. Some of us elderly people have lived here for over three decades. Now you are trying to uproot all our lives.
We want security and proper maintenance of the building. Why pull down something that works without consulting us, and without offering us any evidence?
Preserve this wonderful public housing and our community. We want to live here forever.