Are there any housing commissions around Werribee?
6 Answers
Hells yeah there is!! Basically, there's an area called Birdsville, which was also known as the Bronx back in the '80's which is rough and tumble commission housing area. It's better than it was in the past, but it's still dodgy. If you come across any streets named after birds, stay away because you're either in the commission area or right next to it. Plus there's the crappy looking area of Shaws Road, west of Tarneit Road up to the high school and some bits and pieces of Market Road that's still housing commission.
Yes, the Market Rd area is mainly commission on both sides on the lower Shaw Rd end only. Centenary Cres next to Wyndham Central (aka Galvin Park) High school was also once (still is?) commission I think. This street is relatively well kept compared to some of the others. The streets off Market Rd toward the train station aren't commission and are quite old and expensive. Lovely homes. Birdsville (Heathdale Estate) is mainly privately owned but is a bit cheaper area than the rest of Werribee and still has a few streets of commission houses. Not sure if they are ex commission or still owned by the HC. As of July 2017, both mentioned areas with commission built homes are still quite 'rough', although the Market Rd area is a stone's throw away from the Werribee CBD and the homes are on good sized allotments perfect for subdivision. This area is more desirable from an investment point of view. Most commission built homes in these areas are very similar and distinguishable in style - either brick or fibro and often rectangular in shape - small and situated on the block on an obvious angle. Also, a lot have low wire chain link fencing. Most are on good parcels of land and would be great for subdivision if you wanted to leave the existing dwelling. A lot of them would be full of asbestos I would imagine.
Regarding the Market Road commission areas, Deborah Street is the last of the less desirable streets. Meek St onward is prime real estate. On the other side of the road Richmond crescent seems to be the end of the commission pocket with Dewan Ave onward being standard residential. This being said, some of the property before Dewan Ave which are river facing are highly desirable. Some of these old commission houses are worth a fortune (for Werribee) due to proximity and location near the river.
In Birdsville, it is a little hard to pinpoint the commission areas as it seems to be a little more mixed. The area which is enveloped by Kookaburra Road is definitely the rougher area with commission built homes scattered throughout. My parents first home was in the other part of Birdsville (closer to Rosella avenue end) and it wasn't a conmission area and definitely much nicer than the Kookaburra part. I hope this helps!
I grew up in the area. I lived in the same street as some of the commission houses and it's still a rough area but has improved over the last 30 years. Not all of the commission has been sold off but a good portion has. A good way to tell if you are buying close to commission housing is to use tools like real estate. com and search the property history. If the property shows no sales history or rental history, it's likely commission housing still.
There is a smattering of commission housing on the more ‘affluent’ South Side of Werribee too (which surprised me). These seem to be primarily on Loyola Rd. I’m not sure if they are still all owned by the Housing Comission but they certainly look like they are.
Apparently all of the housing commission houses in Birdsville have been sold off by the housing commission. These might be owned by the original occupants who rented from the commission or they might be owned by private buyers. The area is still rough. I took a drive down there yesterday and the area is just generally depressing, unkept yards, shopping trollies in the streets, several broken down cars in the street and a couple of houses with graffiti on the actual house.
Wren Crt was probably one of the worse streets I've seen around the area, most houses seemed a bit run down with one house having two broken down cars on or around the property - one was actually illegally parked in the middle of the street facing the house... no number plate and flat tires. A really sorry state.