After business-hours and after dark on Friday the 3rd of November 2023 a document was left - by silent hand - in the letterboxes of the residents of the Grosvenor Precinct - this being a social housing complex behind The Grosvenor Hotel, Balaclava.

These some 20 or so units had been happily in occupation for 40 years, with many of the residents long-term, and many of the residents intertwined with the small neighbourhood and its peoples.

The document delivered - not by registered post or by person - was nothing short of a notice to evict.

Not in precise words, of course, but in the euphemistic, fetishistic, propagandist language of faceless bureaucrats. It talked of a bold and exciting future and of fabulous new opportunities for the soon-to-be displaced residents. They were to be offered wonderful new accommodation in various parts of Melbourne and all of them had to get out by April 2024 when the site was set to be demolished and over a two year period rebuilt with a three-story complex complete with 64 apartments and underground car-parking. After which the evictees would be the first to be offered the new apartments. How seamless.

A friend of mine - one of the residents - went into an immediate state of shock. His house, his friends, his local community connections, his neighbours, his dogs, his cats, his postage-stamp sized courtyard, his routines, his habits, his certainty and his future... All out the door courtesy of a document delivered on a Friday night before the Cup Day weekend. What timing.

The body responsible for this disgusting and dehumanising act is something called "Housing First". This is the clever new name of a semi-non-government, semi-non-charitable organisation once called the Port Phillip Housing Association. They rebranded themselves 'Housing First' after some rather deleterious publicity involving a public housing fiasco in St Kilda at The Regal apartments back in 2018. Mismanagement, poor security, lack of governance - as was suggested by media reports at the time. Good time to have a name change, some new stationery, new email addresses, a new CEO, and a clean out of the board - all of whom now, as far as one can discover, have no lived-experience of social housing. Sitting on such boards, however, is a wonderful way to polish your CV.

On the following Monday morning I telephoned Housing First. A lady with a broad regional English accent answered. I enquired.

"Sorry? Grosvenor what?"

"The proposed redevelopment of the Grosvenor Precinct in Balaclava. You're evicting the residents and knocking it down."

"Bear with..." (her qwerty keyboard began to click away) "Sorry love but there's not many in today, it being the day before Cup Day, but I can't find anything about that. Have you contacted your local council? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with us."

"I got your telephone number from the document your colleagues delivered, after hours, to the residents of the Grosvenor Precinct last Friday night..."

"No, nothing here that I can see. Local council your best option."

The City of Port Phillip was next. After an eternity pressing keypad numbers to choose non-answering assistance 'options', and listening to the sort of muzak that even Kenny Gee or the James Last Orchestra would refuse to perform, I talked to a human.

"Sorry, Grosvener what?"

Ditto, I explained.

"Oh, yeah, look, nah, I see; but look not too many are in today, it being Cup Day tomorrow. Can I just grab your name and number?"

Over the next little while four extraordinary things happened.

One.

A very nervous young man rang me from the City of Port Phillip. He asked me if I was Ben, but he didn't introduce himself, not even by occupation or even by the dreaded, casual first name.

"And you were making a planning enquiry, Ben?"

"Yes and no: what is going on with Housing First's proposed redevelopment of the Grosvenor Precinct? Housing First advised me to ask the council..."

"Oh, yeah, look, Housing First; yeah, look, we don't know anything about that."

"But you know about Housing First?"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"Then what else don't you know about Housing First's proposed redevelopment of this social housing complex?"

"Um... (some silence), you might be best to talk to Housing First about what's happening at Grosvenor Street..."

"That you don't know anything about..."

"Ha, yeah, I get your point; no, we don't know anything."

Two.

I called Housing First again. The same lady. The same inquiry.

"Oh, yes, look love, yes, the Grosvenor Precinct is ours but I can't comment on anything regarding the residents or complex - it is a privacy matter, you understand.”

“Yes, but I…”

“No! This is a privacy matter. I cannot answer any of your questions!”, she over-talked.

Could I talk to someone who may be vaguely responsible for the redevelopment please?

"Let me take your name and number and I'll ask someone to give you a call."

"Who is 'someone'?", I asked

"They'll get back to you."

Three.

My friend - the resident at Grosvenor Precinct - called me and asked if I'd accompany him to a 'residents information meeting', held by Housing First at the St Kilda Public Library on the 10th of November, at 10am. I arrived when I could, at 11am, and was let into the meeting by the very helpful library staff. An assembly of vocal and concerned Grosvenor Precinct residents were seated and asking a broad range of questions to a panel of about 5 or so rather awkward and worried looking Housing First staff. As I had a notepad and a pencil it wasn't long before an ill-shaven man with biscuit crumbs on his shirt asked me who I was. I told him. He told me he was in charge of Housing First's Communications, and as this was a private meeting would I be so kind as to leave. Privacy seems to be Housing First’s default. He was lovely about it. I was lovely about it. We exchanged details and agreed to talk later, as I had a number of questions to ask, as a member of the press.

The following Monday we talked and he told me it was extremely unconventional that I would wish to meet either personally or even over the phone with any staff of Housing First regarding the Grosvenor Precinct.

"Such a request is really extraordinary...", he said.

"I'm a journalist: I ask questions."

"If you send me a list of questions by email, I'll get back to you."

"No, it doesn't work that way: Housing First can either tell me the transparent and understandable truth or they can continue with this tawdry cover-up? What do you want to do?"

"This really is extraordinary; I've never come across such a request."

The next day he sent me one of those teenage text message things reminding me how unconventional I was and how he could not help me in any other way with my outrageous questions. And, yes, I've kept the text message.

Four.

The Minister for Housing. Harriet Shing. Her office was harder to talk to than the City of Port Phillip's. I even rang her seat's office in Bairnsdale, which is a handy 4 hour drive from the Grosvenor Precinct. Talk about finger on the pulse...

After about two weeks I finally talked to a charming young lady from the Minister's office who told me that 

"there are no plans before the Minister for Housing regarding the Grosvenor Precinct."

"Then why are they evicting the residents and telling them the place will be demolished?"

"Oh, I don't have any information about that."

In the few short weeks following the eviction notices the residents of the Grosvenor Precinct - many of whom were still struggling to come to terms with their upended lives - received such niceties from Housing First as 'complimentary' cardboard moving boxes, bundled up with a note on top, "To help you with your move!" This despite the fact that very few of the residents had at this stage signed any documents agreeing to relocation.

Housing First, The City of Port Phillip, and the Victorian Minister for Housing continue to remain silent regarding the proposed redevelopment, despite the many and varied requests and emails and telephone calls made by Grosvenor Precinct residents and Balaclava residents in general. There has been no community consultation. To his credit, the Member for Caulfield David Southwick did attend a site meeting just before last Christmas, to listen to residents and locals and make suggestions about what they might do next. Yet in opposition, what can he do?

A large vacant building site sits just 50 metres from the Grosvenor Precinct. The Balaclava Postal Depot car park. It is empty and unused. It is owned by Housing First. So whilst they evict and knock down perfectly good social housing they ignore a bigger, available site?

And is there not something about all of this that strips recipients of social housing - recipients that still have rent and bills payable, it must be remembered - of any shadow of dignity and respect? These people are treated more poorly than a carbon credit. But to the elected - and unelected - authorities, with their immense and silent power, there's nothing to see here... If this is how social housing operates, give me a robber-baron dictator any day.