12 noon
Wednesday 7th Jan
SHAC - 272 Faraday St Carlton

SHAC Update: On Monday 5th Jan, Melbourne University was granted permission by the Supreme Court to apply for a warrant to reclaim 272 Faraday St Carlton, the site of the Student Housing Action Collective (SHAC) occupation. Homeless students from Melbourne University have been running a successful housing cooperative at SHAC since 20 August 2008.

SHAC were in negotiations with the University until Thursday 18th December when the University presented a bogus offer to the students, gave them 45 minutes to sign on the dotted line, then preceded to place five private security guards outside the premises. The students refused to negotiate under conditions of duress, but made a counter offer in the following days.

The contents of the University's "offer" was that the University would pay the bond and be the guarantor for four or five share houses for a period of twelve months. The houses would have run according to SHAC's cooperative principles. SHAC would select appropriate students who would then be referred to the University's low income test and the University would subsidise the rent of these students.

The problem with this offer was that the Uni had made no commitment to funding any new subsidised places from their existing rental subsidy scheme. In effect, the students selected for the "SHAC share houses" would have been taking the places of other students who fit the Uni's low income criteria. The Uni already has a small amount of properties to house students on low incomes with slightly subsidised rent (approximately $100 per week). The SHAC students could not accept this offer in good conscience. It begs the question: what was the Uni planning to do with these properties if the subsidised students were to shift from University owned houses to share houses from the private rental market? Would the Uni have used the SHAC scheme to make their own properties vacant in order to sell them?

SHAC received notification on Friday 19th December that the Uni intended to seek a warrant for the recovery of land from the Supreme Court on Tuesday 23rd December. The students won an adjournment, with the Supreme Court Judge stating he wanted to hear about how the SHAC case relates to the new Victorian Human Rights Charter, which includes the right to housing.

Over the Christmas and New Year period, SHAC received legal advice from Barristers provided by the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH). The students were unable to commit to the legal process, based on the strong likelihood that the University's legal costs (in excess of $20,000) would be awarded against them. The students were advised that they did not have a case. So the SHAC students made the difficult decision not to engage with the legal process but are now preparing to resist an eviction.

SHAC have called on the supporters of Union Solidarity to be on call to support eviction resistance. The Uni has given the final deadline of 12 noon tomorrow (Wednesday 7th January), however the Uni have not yet served a warrant on the students. It is believed that a warrant may be served sometime this week.

The students involved in the occupation are still hopeful of a positive outcome based on the amount of public awareness raised by the occupation, and the political pressure put on the University.

Victorian Trades Hall Council Secretary Brian Boyd has stated publicly that the Trades Hall Building Industry Group would take appropriate industrial action in the event of an eviction. This means that SHAC's fight for more affordable student housing is far from over!!

more info: shacmelbourne.blogspot.com

Labels: Community Protest, SHAC