Play With Your Food

Play With Your Food was a free dinner held every Monday at the University of Melbourne (run by the lovely Allegra and Max - UMSU Welfare Officers). We've now moved it over to SHAC and opened it up as a community dinner.

The SHAC Proposal is going to the University of Melbourne University Council (the big decision board) late this afternoon so come along to the Community Dinner tonight to show your support whilst we await the outcome and have a plate of tasty food, hear some live music and make some new friends.

And if you can't make it tonight come next week, it is on every Monday.

Projector Play...



SHAC had some local artists come along to the house with a projector and other lights and have a play with projecting shapes and images onto the house. It looks amazing!


Homeless Story...

I moved to Melbourne at the start of 2006 to attend a course not offered in my native NZ. By the end of my first year the money I'd saved ran out. Although I worked weekends and before class two days a week at the Vic Market I still couldn't make ends meet. So I moved from my overpriced, windowless room into a lovely condemned house in North Fitzroy. That got me through to second year but the owner eventually turned up with a wrecking ball and that was the end of that. My next place was an abandoned workers cottage round the corner. It was a historic building and the owners wanted it trashed so they could get approval to tear it down. They hadn't anticipated that squatters would move in and take such good care of it so they kept breaking in, smashing the place up and leaving threatening notes. So that was the end of that. The third place I found is a lovely old villa in Brunswick. I'm still living there and am finally at the end of my third year. If I can hold out for a couple more months I might actually get my degree!

- 'Robbie'

Sign Our Petition!

Show your support by signing our petition! Help convince the University that allowing these buildings to be turned into a student housing co-op is a good idea!

Sign the Petition Here!

Free Breakfast


Here are some on the SHAC kids outside the SHAC house this morning. We hosted a free breakfast with porridge, pancakes, coffe, tea, juice, toast, muesli, etc and got a bit silly making geeky signs to hang around our necks. Breakfast is on again on Thursday (tomorrow) so come along in the morning and chow down. We should be there from about 7.30 til 10am.

Our Proposal

SHAC is a project aimed at providing student run affordable student housing. Our pilot proposal is the conversion of 272-8 Faraday Street, Carlton, into a student managed housing co-operative. SHAC arose in response to the current housing crisis which has seen a decline in the quantity of affordable student housing combined with an increase in rental costs. Recognising that the University is increasingly worried about the plight of local and international students concerning both financial viability and the housing crisis, SHAC sees itself as one of numerous possible responses by providing dynamic and equitable student housing. The strength of the SHAC process is that it provides a model for active local and international student participation in the search for solutions around affordable student housing. In line with the spirit of cooperatives, the values guiding SHAC are individual responsibility, mutual help, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity.

Our Principles

- That the site be entirely managed and controlled by its users.

- That the site provide a waty to make the general University experience more accessible to local and international students from low income backgrounds who might otherwise be excluded on the basis of their economic standing through the provision of low-cost and equitable accomodation.

- That all activities undertaken in the space contribute to democratic values that embrace a diversity of race, gender, sexuality, cultures and beliefs.

- That the site be accesible to the diverse spectrum of the University community and bring into contact local and international students, in dynamic and cooperative environments.

- That spaces users engage in activities that will contribute to the social, political and cultural context of the Faraday Street location, the surrounding communities, and Melbourne as a whole, and interact with the local community.

Some Living Spaces...


This is an example of a sleeping space that has been set up. At the moment there are 20 to 25 people sleeping in the space on a regular basis. We've brought in and had donations of mattresses and sleeping gear like sheets and pillows and blankets and it's getting very cosy and home like.



This is our kitchen! Since this photo was taking we've had heaps of food donations and been dumpstering to fill it up with more yummies. We've already had two community dinners since moving into the space, one on Saturday and a smaller one on Monday. We have some big pots and lots of plate and cups and everyone pitches in to help prepare and cook the food and clean up afterwards.

Thank you so much to everyone who has dropped off food or supplies for us! We hope to see you all at future community events. Every Monday night there will probably be a big dinner so it is a good time to drop in...

Your Stories

Ever been homeless? Studying and can't afford your rent? Have to live hours away from uni because you can't afford anywhere closer? Struggling to exist on Centrelink?

Please share your housing experiences here (in the comments). They can be as long or as short as you like and totally anonymous.

Blog will be updated daily with the stories you leave.

Banner Painting...

A Little About Us...

As we all know there is a big housing crisis in Melbourne. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find an affordable place to live anywhere near the inner-city. Students in particular are doing it tough, the pressures of having to study and work more and more because of rising rent (and food) prices is too much for many.

Studies done at Melbourne uni show that as many as 1000 students there could be classified as homeless. Many more are eligible for public housing. In this climate it's clear that we need to do something to claim our right to affordable housing.

Drawing inspiration from STUCCO - the affordable student housing co-op in Sydney which started as a squat and has been running for over 15 years - and from the Keppel St project of early 2006 where students occupied a state government building in the hope of creating a student housing co-op; we think the time is ripe to get active and build solutions.