MOVING BEYOND POLITE ADVOCACY: housing activism in Australia

Some of the key hopes that many held over the last 50 years have not been realised, such as the deepening of democracy and the intergenerational progress of wellbeing and safety. In response, protest actions that occupy streets, properties and spaces are increasing. 

Grassroots activism has overtaken political and civil advocacy on geopolitical issues such as climate change and modern colonialism. Now housing has become a dominant issue for younger Australians, as a political cause with personal effects.

There is a lot of housing activism happening right now

The current housing crisis is not the first one that Australia has experienced, and neither is activism as the response. The immediate years after World War Two saw many instances of squatting and protest in reaction to the severe shortage of housing. Elsie, the first women’s refuge in Australia, was founded in a squatted council house in Glebe in 1975.

Recently, we have seen campaigns in Sydney and Melbourne with significant involvement of residents against the sell-off or redevelopment of public housing. We have also seen the rise of renter activism with RAHU (Renters and Housing Union) and other volunteer-based groups doing everything from organising information and rights awareness nights for low-income renters to picketing real estate agents.

Notably, there have been social-media-led actions, with the most well-known of these being Jordan Van den Berg, or ‘Purple Pingers.’ In early 2024, Van den Berg started to gain media attention for his encouragement for people to name (and shame) properties that have been left empty. Further to this, there was a suggestion these homes might be occupied by those who were in housing need among his audience. A flurry of media articles and talkback discussion about the legality of squatting and the broader issue of regulation of empty homes followed (see HousingWORKS article on 'meanwhile use' housing). 

In 2016, housing activists led by the Homeless Persons Union of Victoria (HPUV) took over empty properties that had been compulsorily purchased by the Victorian State Government for the East West Link road and tunnel project. The occupation involved people moving into houses, primarily in Bendigo Street Collingwood, Melbourne, and living in them. 

The initial intention of the occupiers was to draw attention to increased homelessness and the lack of public housing. What started as a political protest action turned into an action, which actually provided housing for people who were homeless. 

The HPUV estimates the occupation housed at least 58 people over eight months. Over time, the occupied houses in Bendigo Street came to look like a microcosm of the unhoused population. Those housed during the occupation included single mothers with children escaping intimate partner violence, and First Nations people, including elders, as well as individuals excluded from safe housing options by poverty and cultural exclusion. 

Bendigo Street was an unusual modern Australian example of housing activism, being larger scale and having a bigger impact on the public conversation than most actions that came before it.

Our research was focussed on the relationship between the housing activists and local government. We explored how Yarra Council, which had been advocating for the use of the empty Bendigo Street houses as social housing for years before the occupation, quickly shied away from a position of solidarity with the action. This was despite the political and practical aims of the HPUV aligning with the Council’s policy positions. 

Crisis meetings were held with council officers, community housing organisations and police, but the activists were not invited to attend. While there were sympathetic officials from local government and the housing sector who offered practical support, a sense of isolation grew over time. Sensationalist reports were regularly published by popular media outlets and the state government maintained a largely hostile stance towards the activists.

Housing activism can initiate change

We argue in our research that the Bendigo Street Occupation is an example of policy and process change in housing that is unlikely to be achieved through traditional methods and channels of advocacy. 

Housing as a human right

The definition of the right to housing, included in The United Nations Right to Adequate Housing, is very much within the frame of what housing and social purpose organisations campaign on. It includes affordability, accessibility and security of tenure. To improve alignment with the United Nations definition, housing organisations may wish to focus on whether they are adequately adopting the stated entitlement for people in “participation in housing-related decision-making at the national and community levels.”

The operation of the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) under the previous federal government may have had had a chilling effect on the housing sector and other organisations with a social purpose. However, the current ACNC settings only restrict involvement in advocacy and campaigns in a very narrow way: It cannot have the purpose of promoting or opposing a particular political party or candidate.