Following the Victorian Government’s announcement of the public housing high rise redevelopment, Homes Victoria needed to engage renters immediately across 44 towers in Melbourne. The scale, sensitivity and visibility of the announcement required structured, empathetic and risk aware engagement from day one.
Beyond immediate face to face engagement, Homes Victoria required a clear governance framework and staged engagement pathway to guide subsequent consultation phases. The challenge was to establish a defensible, community centred engagement model that reduced social licence risk, aligned with Engage Victoria principles and positioned the redevelopment program for future planning and investment decisions.
Struber deployed teams across Melbourne on the day of the announcement, delivering immediate face to face engagement through 44 public housing tours. This early mobilisation helped answer renter questions, manage uncertainty and capture frontline insights that informed next steps. Struber worked alongside Homes Victoria to design a structured four phase engagement framework covering community principles engagement, community visioning, master planning and delivery. This provided a clear roadmap linking engagement activities to decision making milestones and redevelopment planning requirements.
Struber developed a suite of supporting strategies and documents, including tailored engagement materials, stakeholder mapping, positioning, brand narrative and digital storytelling plans. Multiple tools and tactics were designed to engage renters, faith leaders, community representatives and service providers at each stage. Struber also remained embedded during the first phase, providing in house advisory support and on the ground presence to ensure consistency between strategy and delivery.
Homes Victoria successfully engaged renters across all 44 towers during the initial phase, supported by a comprehensive set of engagement strategies and operational documents. Immediate, visible engagement reduced community anxiety and strengthened trust during a highly sensitive announcement period. The structured four phase framework provided Homes Victoria with a clear governance pathway for ongoing consultation, reducing reputational and delivery risk while supporting future master planning and investment decisions.
The developed engagement model established a defensible and community centred foundation for the redevelopment program, positioning Homes Victoria with the tools, documentation and strategic clarity required to progress confidently into subsequent phases.