Joal’s landlord left her old house vacant. She didn’t understand why.

One property in Richmond has been vacant for 873 days, or nearly two and a half years. Another property in the same suburb has been vacant for 395 days and is currently being re-rented. “It’s not like there are only a few people looking for these homes,” Mr. VandenLamm said. “Some properties shouldn’t be sitting in the re-rental process for hundreds of days when we have a waiting list.”

Some properties have been vacant for a year or more, and many have been empty for hundreds of days. Thousands of properties listed in the documents have a “KPI of days” of zero due to re-letting restrictions. It is not clear how long these properties have been vacant.

Restrictions on re-letting include needing major renovations, reaching the end of their lifespan, plans to rebuild or tenants leaving items behind. Productivity Commission data shows 225 properties are either uninhabitable or undergoing major rebuilding.

The state government did not directly respond to questions about whether it was appropriate to leave public housing empty during the housing crisis. A Homes Victoria spokesman said: “Our landmark $6.3 billion investment will deliver more than 13,300 new homes across Victoria, with more than 9600 under construction or completed.”

“We worked hard to ensure all vacant properties were rented out as quickly as possible – the total number of vacant properties was reduced by 30 per cent between June 30, 2023 and July 31 this year.”

Public housing resident Joal Presincula, who recently moved out of a Williamstown unit because it needed renovations, said she didn’t consider her old home habitable, but she is frustrated that public housing is abandoned, allowed to deteriorate and then sits vacant once it becomes uninhabitable.

“How does that make me feel? I guess the one word I would use to describe this situation is confusion as to why it’s so bad,” she said. “Why did the housing situation get so bad until … the most vulnerable people in our community weren’t being taken care of by the people who were responsible?”

Louisa Bassini, managing solicitor at Melbourne’s Inner City Community Legal Centre, said it was disheartening to hear about thousands of homes, many in the inner city, sitting empty. The legal centre has been providing legal assistance to public housing tenants displaced by the state government’s project to renew public housing towers, who are struggling to find public housing closer to existing neighbourhoods.

“It’s absolutely frustrating that the government can’t guarantee they can continue to live in public housing nearby,” she said. “If people knew how much housing there was destroyed, they would be very angry.”

Bassini said clients who have expressed a desire to stay in the community and public housing have been told they will have better luck choosing community housing but will likely pay more or be moved farther out of the city.

“It gives a false sense of scarcity. The idea of ​​a shortage of public housing in the inner city is being used to force people into community housing,” she said.

Melbourne’s Inner City Community Law Society is launching a class action on behalf of residents challenging the state government’s plans to demolish inner-city public housing towers.

Opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said public housing numbers had gone backwards under the Labor government.

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“We have a public housing list of 60,000 families … and we’ve reduced it by 2733 bedrooms over that period,” he said. “They are simply replacing existing homes, they are not adding to the housing stock. As we speak today, there are 2733 fewer places for people to sleep.”

Precincula, who has experienced homelessness, said she hopes the state will give others a chance at affordable, safe and secure housing.

“I would very much like to see more investment in public housing. It saved my life, no joke,” she said. “Statistics show that homeless people die at a higher rate than the general population. People who go through this trauma die faster.”