When this crisis is over, do we really want to be in the same position we were before? asks Ella Robinson-Clarke, Public Policy student and Port Phillip local.

We view housing as a human right and this value is reflected in everything we do, write Mary Anne Noone (Chair) and Bill Joyce (Deputy Chair) of the South Port Community Housing Group.

We lost our park to the Grand Prix, we lost our local council to amalgamation and our footy club was moved to Sydney. Many South Melbourne residents fear their historic Town Hall is next, writes local historian Adair Bunnett OAM.

With their eyes on the prize, some candidates in the upcoming Council election have a plan that will destroy our Market's heart and soul.

Councillors need to be attuned to the new thinking about post-pandemic economic infrastructure and job-creation opportunities that could be realised through a dramatically enlarged social and public housing construction program at national, state and local levels, writes Les Rosenblatt, social science researcher and academic with 35 years experience in housing issues and initiatives.

The City of Port Phillip has a proud history of supporting social housing for lower income residents threatened by rising private rental costs and closure of many Rooming Houses. It is a clear and unambiguous statement from the community that everyone deserves a home. 

Recently, Progressive Port Phillip hosted a forum to explore key issues facing young people. Environment, open dialogue with Council, mental health, and a tolerant and equitable society, were some of the issues raised, reports university student Aidan McGartland.

Libraries are essential for democracy to function well, because democracy depends on access to information. Despite the wishful thinking of those who would cut back on library expenditure, Google does not supply all the answers.  . . People love their libraries. That is something all candidates in the forthcoming elections should bear in mind. . . writes a local resident.

The pandemic is bringing one phase of human history to an end. We must prepare for the next . . . We need councillors who understand Port Phillip as more than an economic and political unit. They need to understand it as a deeply-storied landscape.