Uncovering the asbestos legacy in public housing: Kenneth’s story

In the 1940s, Melbourne was feeling the social and economic impact of World War II. A significant housing shortage was pushing working-class families out of the housing market and into slums, which had grown across the city following the Great Depression (1929-1941), the longest and deepest economic downturn in history.

To fix the problem, in 1945, the Housing Commission of Victoria (HCV) began to build prefabricated public houses across regional and suburban Victoria, made from asbestos containing materials including asbestos cement sheets. It was a cheap, durable and fire-resistant material for a budget-strapped government.

By the 1950s, HCV had employed thousands of workers to quickly build high-rise public housing towers. Today, 44 of these buildings can still be found across 14 of Melbourne’s inner-city suburbs.

The hidden danger behind the public housing towers

Decades later, the materials once seen as a cost-saving solution have left a dangerous legacy. Asbestos, now known to cause deadly illnesses, remains in many of these buildings, including walls, ceilings, flooring and insulation.

Even minor cosmetic changes such as drilling into a wall to hang a picture or routine maintenance, such as having a plumber repair or replace pipes can cause the deadly asbestos dust to be released into the air.

In 2024, the Victorian Labor government proposed a plan to demolish all existing 44 public housing towers and replace them with new ones designed to house three times as many residents by 2051.

Alarmingly, the wait list to get into social housing is estimated to be over 100,000 people.

Kenneth's story: a lifetime cut short by exposure

One of the young workers who helped build Victoria’s public housing boom was Kenneth Downie, a 19-year-old apprentice carpenter with the HCV. He, along with other tradesman installed asbestos cement sheets in porch ceilings and entranceways of housing commission homes in Dandenong and Doveton.

Asbestos was cut to size using AC cutters before it was nailed into place. Even though the public housing homes were built in what was then open-air paddocks, it was still dusty work that required handling and disposing of asbestos dust and debris. Workers weren’t provided with a mask or respiratory protection or warned about the dangers of working with asbestos.

Unfortunately for Kenneth, this work exposed him to the deadly asbestos dust that caused his condition of mesothelioma, a terminal asbestos related condition.

“I used to be a fitness nut. Then last year I couldn’t get out of a chair,” says Kenneth.

After a long and diverse career, Kenneth had settled into a comfortable retirement. In mid-2024, he began to feel chest pain, which he tried to treat with prescribed antibiotics. After collapsing in his garden, further testing revealed the cause of his symptoms to be mesothelioma. 

Recognising that time was critical, Anita Arian, a specialist dust diseases lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, immediately lodged a compensation claim on Kenneth’s behalf.

While the compensation amount will help provide financial certainty and support his care, Kenneth says no amount of money can undo the damage.

“I’m not one bit interested in the money – I’d give it all back, plus extra, if they could give me hours back.”

Kenneth’s story is a powerful reminder that tradesman and tenants continue to face the serious risks of asbestos exposure.

Who's at risk of asbestos in public housing?

Because asbestos was used when building government housing[AV2] , many people may have been exposed directly or indirectly, including:

• Residents: exposure during building or home maintenance, or while carrying out simple home adjustments like drilling into a wall.
• Construction workers: from carpenters to plumbers and electricians, all workers involved in building public housing until at least the early 1980’s may have come into contact with asbestos.
• Maintenance workers: like construction workers, tradespeople who have carried out repairs or maintenance work on the towers, even in recent times, may also have been exposed to asbestos.

We can help

We offer free initial consultations where we can advise you on your potential rights and entitlements to compensation. There’s no obligation to go ahead after this consultation, but if you decide you want to pursue a claim, we'll represent you on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Don’t ignore the signs. Contact us today.