CRACKDOWN ON DRUG DEALERS IN PUBLIC HOUSING IN MELBOURNE'S NORTH

DRUG dealers in public housing are being targeted for eviction in a
major clean-up of crime-plagued estates.

Police and public housing authorities have recently launched a
crackdown on drug-dealing in estates in Melbourne's north.

After complaints from residents about increased drug activity,
authorities have begun targeting dealers in Broadmeadows.

Two raids this month at Banksia Gardens Estate in Broadmeadows have
resulted in 22 arrests.

The raids came after the Office of Housing wrote to all 144
households warning that illegal activity would not be tolerated on
the estate and asking them to report criminals.

Housing Minister Richard Wynne said the Government was determined to
make public housing safe for law-abiding residents and said that more
crackdowns could follow.

"The overwhelming majority of our tenant families are happily living
law-abiding lives," he said.

"We take our responsibility to help them do that very seriously."

The latest raids follow a successful blitz on illegal activity in the
City of Yarra's public housing.

Since January, police have carried out more than 50 raids in public
housing in Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy, seizing drugs with a
street value of more than $100,000, and charging 29 people.

Following successful prosecutions, the Office of Housing has taken
proceedings to evict 31 tenants.