{"id":584848,"date":"2026-04-04T11:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584848\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T11:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:07:13","slug":"anger-as-st-kilda-apartments-donated-for-social-housing-for-the-elderly-are-to-be-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584848\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger as St Kilda apartments donated for social housing for the elderly are to be sold"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dozens of social housing tenants in St Kilda say they have been blindsided after their housing provider moved to sell two apartment blocks donated by the area\u2019s council two decades ago.<\/p>\n

HousingFirst, which manages a $750 million portfolio of community housing across Melbourne, wants to sell its 25 apartments at the Inkerman Oasis development in Greeves Street<\/a>, citing increased costs more than 20 years after the organisation become the custodian of the properties, which were given by Port Phillip Council.<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome of the residents facing relocation as HousingFirst aims to sell their homes to the private market.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

As reported first by local publication TWiSK<\/a>, the homes sit on the site of a former council depot, which was given to a developer to build apartments in the early 2000s. The deal was based on the developer building and giving the council 28 units \u2013 about 10 per cent of the new development \u2013 for social housing.<\/p>\n

The council established the Port Phillip Housing Trust and transferred ownership of its $36 million community housing projects \u2013 including the Oasis units \u2013 to the trust in 2005.<\/p>\n

The council then appointed HousingFirst (then known as the Port Phillip Housing Association) as the independent trustee. This structure granted HousingFirst the power to sell assets without council approval \u2013 a right the non-profit organisation it is now exercising. It has already sold three units and now plans to sell the remaining 25.<\/p>\n

John Cocks, 75, has lived in his unit for 23 years and in St Kilda for more than six decades. He was originally selected for the Oasis under a scheme specifically designed to keep long-term residents in the area in old age.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When he was allocated his flat, he was assured he would see out his days there and only leave \u201cin a box\u201d. He said he couldn\u2019t believe it last month when told last he\u2019d have to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the doctor and got some medication because there is anxiety,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m breaking out in perspiration every single day, which I don\u2019t normally do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocks was among distressed residents who told The Age this week they were given a \u201ctake it or leave us\u201d ultimatum by HousingFirst: accept one of two relocation offers or face homelessness \u2013 a threat one woman in her 80s claimed was explicitly described by staff as ending up on \u201cthe street\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Assemble\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

Residents have been told they might be relocated to other properties within Port Phillip, but those numbers are limited. Older residents have been offered places in a new retirement village in Brighton East, which residents say are tiny and far from the community they have lived in for decades.<\/p>\n

The HousingFirst apartments are community housing (run by an organisation), not public housing (run by the state government), but the decision to sell the units comes as the state government fights to proceed with plans to knock down all 44 public housing towers<\/a> in the city and replace them with a mix of community and market-rate housing.<\/p>\n

Cocks pays about $17,500 a year in rent and questioned the details of the provider\u2019s claim that the units were \u201cfinancially unsustainable\u201d, as he said maintenance was minimal.<\/p>\n

HousingFirst said tenants\u2019 discounted rental income no longer covered the rising costs of strata fees, maintenance and council rates.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Port Phillip mayor Dick Gross slammed the sell-off of the properties.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

The community housing model limits rents to 30 per cent of a tenant\u2019s income, which in the case of the Oasis social housing residents is 30 per cent of their pension. HousingFirst also gets all their Commonwealth rent assistance.<\/p>\n

Asked if the organisation would sell the blocks to another social housing provider, a spokesman for HousingFirst said that \u201cany community housing provider would face the same challenge\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing not-for-profit does not mean being for loss,\u201d the spokesman said. He said all proceeds would be reinvested into the trust to fund other housing within the City of Port Phillip.<\/p>\n

The provider denied residents were being rushed, and said they had until August to agree to alternative housing. \u201cHousingFirst is exploring options not just within our own portfolio \u2013 but also with other agencies and government, lodging transfer applications on the Victorian Housing Register for residents who request this,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Former mayor Dick Gross, one of a number of mayors who oversaw the land swap deal, blasted the sell-off and said it \u201cbreached\u201d the entire ethos of the original agreement.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Glen<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe social housing was strictly limited to long-term locals being displaced by gentrification,\u201d Gross said. \u201cDecades have passed, and [the provider] has become huge. The nexus to both St Kilda and indeed Port Phillip is significantly diluted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Port Phillip councillors Justin Halliday and Beti Jay sit on the provider\u2019s board. Mayor Alex Makin said Halliday and Jay were barred by the Federal Corporations Act from sharing news of the impending sale before it was made public, and could not veto the sale.<\/p>\n

Cocks said residents want to stay in their homes and want the state government to buy the homes or assist with their costs.<\/p>\n

The Victorian government said its agency, Homes Victoria, had \u201coffered to support HousingFirst in assisting renters find new homes that meet their needs\u201d. The government did not respond when asked if it would consider acquiring the properties.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"RachaelRachael Dexter<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.dexter@theage.com.au, rachaeldexter@protonmail.com, or via Signal at @rachaeldexter.58Connect via Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-584848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}