Millers Point residents protest private auctions

Saturday, August 30, 2014

By Jim McIlroy, Sydney

Residents of the Millers Point public housing community and supporters protested outside the private auctions of the first two houses sold in the NSW Coalition government's planned sale of nearly 300 government-owned homes in the suburb.

The auctions were held at real estate agents’ offices in Edgecliff on August 21 and Woollahra on August 26.

The first house was sold for $1.9 million, and the second for $2.6 million.
Protesters draped banners condemning the sales on walls and fences nearby the offices, as security guards and police guarded potential buyers going inside.

Save Millers Point committee spokesperson Barney Gardner said: "These forced sales are nothing but social cleansing. The people selling and buying these houses should be ashamed of themselves.
"Shame on you. Millers Point is not for sale."

Residents of Millers Point, many elderly, whose families had lived in the historic inner suburb for generations, are resisting government attempts to evict them from their homes. Nevertheless, some residents have been pressured to move by housing officials, and the auction process is continuing.

[The Millers Point community is planning a Spring Picnic under the theme, "Save your heritage. Save our community," on Sunday September 14, from 10am to 4pm, at Argyle Place, via The Rocks.]

Resourced: https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/57225
 

Millers Point housing dispute heightens

 Posted July 24, 2014

By Christopher Harris

 

Local politicians have joined the opposition to NSW Government’s plan to sell public housing in Millers Point to fund a Housing NSW property shortfall and maintenance backlog.

The significance of the Millers Point housing was highlighted by Lord Mayor Clover Moore last Friday as she opened Sue Rawlinson’s exhibition that documents the plaques of protests and simple yellow ribbons, which now hang in residents’ homes in the suburbs.

The Lord Mayor reiterated her support for low income housing in the CBD.

“We’re funding Redfern Legal Centre to assist residents in their fight,” she said.

It is understood the mayor has donated $100,000 to assist the community in pursuing legal avenues to combat forced eviction notices, which were delivered to residents last March.

The government has maintained that the relocation of Housing NSW tenants is necessary because of the high maintenance costs of the properties.

“I recognise some tenants have lived in public housing in Millers Point for decades, and moving to a new location may be difficult.  This decision was not taken lightly, but it is the right decision in the interest of a sustainable, fair social housing system which currently has more than 57,000 families on the waiting list,” said NSW Minister for Planning Pru Goward.

Member of the Save Millers Point Community group Wendy Ford believes the Government’s action is about short-term revenue raising and could affect more people than Millers Point.

“I think its quite strange when [Pru Goward] set up a commission to look into public housing across the state, she goes and announces before this commission has finished, that she’s going to sell these houses off.”

Last year Housing NSW sold 1386 houses and built 536.

Minister for Housing Gabrielle Upton did not respond to questions but referred them to a departmental spokesperson, who said the sell-off is more equitable.

“For each Millers Point precinct property sold, the government can build three modern, purpose-built houses which are better suited to social housing.”

The Shadow Minister for Housing, Sophie Cotsis, doesn’t believe there is any provision for new property acquisition.

“When you subtract how many they’ve built from how many they’ve sold, we’ve got about 800 less houses. The housing portfolio is in crisis. They’ve had three ministers since August last year. It is very clear there has been no planning and no strategy from Government.”

“In the last budget that Labor handed down in 2010, the budget for building housing was $240 million. In 2014 its $120 million; that budget has been halved. Its not sustainable,” Ms Cotsis said.
In a NSW Government inquiry into social, public and affordable housing in May, Anne Skewes, Deputy Director General of NSW Land and Housing Corporation was unclear about how many new houses the sale proceeds would afford.

“[The sale] is money back to the Land and Housing Corporation to support the maintenance backlog and also to support new supply.”

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich believes the Government’s move equates to an act of social cleansing, motivated by the development of the nearby casino.

“The government changed the rules to allow fast-tracking of a second casino, preventing open tenders and consideration of public benefit. Many people have identified that badly-maintained social housing is not the right image to attract big spending gamblers to a new casino and hotel.”

Mr Greenwich has pledged his continued support to retain inner city public housing.

http://www.altmedia.net.au/millers-point-housing-dispute-heightens/96041

The NSW government's decision to sell the first 6 houses

The NSW government's decision to sell the first 6 houses of the 293 they intend selling. This will socially cleanse the Millers Point community of all the public housing tenants.
Video By Russ Hermann.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OkKJvQrn_8&feature=youtu.be

This is an extract from letters now been circulated by Housing N.S.W

This is an extract from letters now been circulated by Housing N.S.W to the residents in Millers Point. It is just another sinister attack on the Tenants to remove them from their homes!

"As part of our Relocation process we are also conducting property inspections to ensure that there are no major Health & Safety issues in the properties."

I would like to point out certain aspects of the abo...ve paragraph!

1. Relocation Process = Forced Eviction!

2. Inspections = these inspections have been ongoing for many years and Tenants request for repairs largely ignored!

3. Health & Safety = If there is a Health & Safety issue the Tenant can be removed from their home!

It is immoral that Housing NSW resorts to these standards because inspections in the past have not resulted in repairs and/or maintenance being addressed, also it is Housing NSW who have caused any Health & Safety issues due to the lack of " Duty Of Care" which is in every Tenants Lease.

Kind Regards,
Barney Gardner on behalf of the M.P, D.P & Rocks P.H.T's Group.

#savemillerspoint #auspol #nswpol #housing #socialhousing #community #publichousing #tenancytribunal

Architects of James Packer's planned Barangaroo casino project say height doesn't matter

By Sean Nicholls

The architects of James Packer's proposed $1.3 billion hotel and casino resort at Barangaroo say they would not be overly concerned if NSW authorities require a reduction in height of the tower to below 270 metres.

Mr Packer's company, Crown Sydney, has yet to lodge a development application for the project, which at a proposed 270 metres would significantly breach the 170 metre height limit for a hotel at Barangaroo.

It would also exceed the 235 metre limit for residential and commercial skyscrapers in the Sydney central business district, although this does not apply to Barangaroo.

Paul Baker, a director of the architecture firm Wilkinson Eyre, said on Tuesday the state government's planning approval process "might modify the building and I think we [will] wait to see how that results".

But he added: "I think it's dealable [handleable]. It all depends where we end up.''

Dreaming big: An artist's impression of the Barangaroo development

Company founder Chris Wilkinson said regardless of the eventual building height, the amount of accommodation inside would not change.

"If we go lower, we’ll probably end up with something a little fatter," Mr Wilkinson said.
"We're realists. All of our projects, we have to get planning consent. We never try to force it. We have to negotiate our way through."

The architects were speaking at an event organised by developer lobby group Urban Taskforce, which has been strongly supportive of Crown's plans.

Outlining the genesis of the building design, Mr Wilkinson said the firm felt what was needed at the Barangaroo site was "a sculptural form".

"We had the idea of trying to create an inhabited artwork," he said.

Mr Wilkinson said the idea began with a sculpture on which the company had been working that featured three petals joined at the centre and twisting through 90 degrees as they rose towards the sky.

"It struck me that you could inhabit this space by joining up the petals," he said.
Early discussions gave Wilkinson Eyre confidence that the "twist in the building" could be achieved with "a vertical core with helical columns around the perimeter".

"I still don't know whether anyone's done the helical columns before," Mr Wilkinson told the audience. But he added that the engineers for the project "seem pretty confident that it's going to work".
Pressed about this, Mr Wilkinson said he was "absolutely confident it's going to work".
The firm initially envisioned a white tower but this was "technically not possible". Instead it plans a "light silvery reflective colour".

The podium will be clad in a "veil of stonework" inspired by a central London church designed by 17th century architect Sir Christopher Wren.

The planned building includes luxury hotel suites on the top three floors, apartments below and then hotel rooms, a casino and cafes and restaurants at the podium level.

Mr Wilkinson said the "big advantage" of having mixed uses was that "you spread the use over 24 hours so it isn't dead at night, it's alive. And you get a vitality. I think the hotel is going to bring a huge amount of life to that area."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/architects-of-james-packers-planned-barangaroo-casino-project-say-height-doesnt-matter-20140722-zvjrv.html#ixzz38N8wrRkE

This block of apartments, smack in the middle of The Rocks, Sydney’s oldest precinct.

Its a real shame they want all the residents out of the Sirius Apartment complex before the end of 2014. Cease the eviction process Now.

This block of apartments, smack in the middle of The Rocks, Sydney’s oldest precinct, is a bold and ex...ceptional experiment in low-income public housing.

It rises spectacularly from the crowded, shoulder-to-shoulder density  of stone cottages, pubs, warehouses and bond stores, flanked to one side by the Harbour Bridge - so near you could almost reach out  and touch it – while on the other, spread before it like a tableau, are  the splendours of Sydney Harbour, Circular Quay, the Opera House and the city skyline.

Built to relocate public housing tenants, it was an experiment in making a fundamentally better housing model for the masses. The requirement was for a building to accommodate up to 200 people, in 79 apartments of one, two, three and four bedrooms, ranging from single storey and split-level units in a main tower to two and three storey walk-ups at street level. The result was a concrete mountain, strikingly modern, spread along the street, stepped and terraced for twelve storeys, reminiscent of a Native American pueblo.

Construction was as ingenious as it was simple, combining  board-marked, off-form reinforced concrete walls, concrete slab floors and ceilings and factory produced acid-etched picture windows, hoisted by crane and slotted into place, producing the complex’s distinct stacked building block appearance.

All units benefit from a combination of roof gardens - one tenant’s roof  is another’s garden – street level courtyards and balconies. A communal garden on the eighth floor is landscaped with shrubs and trees in large, vibrant purple fibreglass planters. The hanging gardens cascade down the sides of the building, softening the austerity of the raw concrete and stepped form.

The main foyer is remarkable for a slatted waving timber ceiling and  three dimensional wood sculptures designed by Tao Gofers, based on cave art figures. Photograph: John Gollings Sirius. The Rocks, Sydney Tao Gofers Architect 1978

Stop Millers Point public housing sell-off – Senate backs Greens motion

http://mncgreens.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/stop-millers-point-public-housing-sell.html

 

Thursday, 17 July 2014

 

The Australian Senate today passed a Greens’ motion calling on the NSW government to cease selling public housing in the historic inner Sydney suburb of Millers Point.

“This is a small but important victory for the Miller Points residents and their supporters who have been campaigning to save 293 public housing properties and to stop the eviction of 400 tenants from their homes slated for private sale,” Greens NSW Senator Rhiannon said.

“The Greens put this motion before the Senate to win federal support for this important campaign.


“A mighty community campaign saved Millers Point public housing in the 1970s when a Green Ban was imposed by the NSW Builders Labourers Federation.

“The community is again rallying against another Coalition government that is too close to developers.

“Millers Point is of enormous historical significance and public housing in this area is a rich part of the city’s heritage. The working class here is part of the character and soul of the city.

“Moves to sell off public housing are part of a long standing attempt by successive NSW Labor and Coalition governments to assist their developer buddies to profit from ‘up-marketing’ Sydney.

“Though the NSW Liberal government has been harassing residents and trying to pressure them into accepting relocation to other suburbs, the community and their friends are putting up an inspiring and courageous fight.

“This Greens initiated Senate motion should serve as a message to the NSW Premier Mike Baird that support is growing for this community and their call to stop the 'sell off' of Millers Point public housing,” Senator Rhiannon said.

LIBERALS CRUELLY EVICT ELDERLY TENANTS FROM MILLERS POINT

NSW Labor today condemned the claims by the NSW Liberal Government that the proceeds from the sale of the public housing in Millers Point will be reinvested in the social housing sy...stem.

“This is more disingenuous spin by the Liberals to cover up their appalling record of budget cuts to social housing. “ Shadow Minister for Housing Sophie Cotsis said today.

“The fact is the last budget shows the Liberals have cut funding for new housing construction in half compared to what Labor spent in our last year in office.

“Last year the Auditor General found the Liberals had delayed $85 million worth of maintenance work for social housing, causing the maintenance backlog to blow-out to $330 million.

“It has been 12 months since the Auditor General’s recommendation to develop a long-term social housing policy, but the Liberal’s still have not done this.”

Labor Candidate for Sydney Edwina Lloyd condemned the announcement by the NSW Liberal Government to begin selling social housing properties in Millers Point.

“The Liberals are evicting elderly and vulnerable people from their homes and their community.” Ms Lloyd said.

“The Liberals’ budget cuts show they are not interested in investing in social housing, these sales are only about the Liberals’ mindless ideological obsession with selling public assets.”

City of Sydney Labor Councillor Linda Scott also condemned the Liberals plans to reduce the availability of social housing in inner-Sydney.

“Our city should be a vibrant place that can cater to a diverse mix of people”, Ms Scott said.

“There is a housing affordability crisis in the inner City and this sell off will remove a significant number of affordable housing dwellings from the City of Sydney forever.”

“Under the Liberal’s heartless sell-off, a vibrant community that has lived in Millers Point for decades will be turfed-out and dispersed.”

Shadow Minister for Housing Sophie Cotsis said that claims by NSW Liberal Ministers that the proceeds from the sale will be reinvested in social housing, are nowhere to be found in the budget. Despite claims that the proceeds will go back to social housing, the Government has no plan or completed any economic modelling.

“There are no plans- this is nothing more than a massive cash grab. The Minister must front up and speak to the many residents who are very concerned and distressed,” Ms Cotsis said.

“The Liberals are obsessed with selling public assets all across the state regardless of the consequences.

“In this case the Liberals decision to sell social housing at Millers Point will see the eviction of elderly and vulnerable people from their homes where they have spent their lives.”

MEDIA CONTACT: SOPHIE COTSIS- 0407945914

Sign the online petition-
https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/save-the-heritage-the-community-of-millers-point-dawes-point-the-rocks

Support the campaign and buy a shirt online- http://www.capturethatphotographics.com/#!save-millers-point/c10lt

Stop Millers Point public housing sell-off - Senate backs Greens motion

16 Jul 2014 | Lee Rhiannon Housing & Sustainable Cities

The Australian Senate has passed a Greens' motion calling on the NSW government to cease selling public housing in the historic inner Sydney suburb of Millers Point.

"This is a small but important victory for the Miller Points residents and their supporters who have been campaigning to save 293 public housing properties and to stop the eviction of 400 tenants from their homes slated for private sale," Greens NSW Senator said.

"The Greens put this motion before the Senate to win federal support for this important campaign.
"A mighty community campaign saved Millers Point public housing in the 1970s when a Green Ban was imposed by the NSW Builders Labourers Federation.

"The community is again rallying against another Coalition government that is too close to developers.

"Millers Point is of enormous historical significance and public housing in this area is a rich part of the city's heritage. The working class here is part of the character and soul of the city.

"Moves to sell off public housing are part of a long standing attempt by successive NSW Labor and Coalition government's to assist their developer buddies to profit from ‘upmarketing' Sydney.

"Though the NSW Liberal government has been harassing residents and trying to pressure them into accepting relocation to other suburbs, the community and their friends are putting up an inspiring and courageous fight.

"This Greens initiated Senate motion should serve as a message to the NSW Premier Mike Baird that support is growing for this community and their call to stop the selloff of Millers Point public housing," Senator Rhiannon said.

TEXT OF MOTION
347 Senator Rhiannon: To move-That the Senate-

(a) notes that:

(i) the New South Wales Coalition Government has:

(A) announced the sale of 293 public housing properties at Millers Point and The Rocks in Sydney, with the move expected to displace more than 400 public housing tenants,

(B) made the announcement without notifying the tenants first,

(C) left residents without answers about the disruption to their community and their lives,

(D) failed to undertake a complete assessment of the housing stock in question, and

(E) failed to require provision of any serious amounts of affordable housing units in the state‘s largest construction site at Barangaroo, adjacent to The Rocks;

(ii) the 1970s Green Bans organised by local residents and the Builders Labourers Federation won protection for the low cost and public housing in the Millers Point and The Rocks area, and

(iii) affordable and appropriate housing is a basic human right and there is already too little social housing stock within Sydney‘s CBD and surrounds; and

(b) calls on:

(a) the New South Wales Government to cease selling public housing in Millers Point, and

(b) the Federal Government to increase funding for affordable public housing.

http://lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/stop-millers-point-public-housing-sell-senate-backs-greens-motion

Public Housing To Sell For Millions

http://www.sportsbet.com.au/blog/sportsbet-media/public-housing-to-sell-for-millions

23 Lower Fort St is expected to fetch close to $2 million for the government

The 6 public housing properties overlooking Sydney Harbour at Millers Point and Dawes Point are set to fetch up to 2 million dollars each at auction, and online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au has priced 11 Fort St at $2.50 to be the one that will sell for the highest price – whatever that may be.

Lower Fort St seems to be the place to be with number 29 a $3.75 chance to go for the second most, ahead of number 23 ($4.50).

30 Argyle Place is the $6.00 outsider to rake in the most cash at auction, but that property is still expected to bring in more than one million dollars into the government’s coffers.

“Similar properties in the area have been known to sell for up to $3 million, and while the Fort St terraces may not reach those heights, their million dollar views are certain to attract some frenzied bidding,” said sportsbet.com.au’s Christian Jantzen.

Millers Point Spring Picnic

Come & celebrate the history, renewed strength and enduring vitality of our great community.

 Activities so far planned include guided architectural and social history tours, presentations and stalls showcasing our ethnic diversity, live music, rousing speeches, art displays and lots of fun for kids.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1494133494151614/

Six Millers Point properties to go on the market

The NSW State Ministers for Family and Community Services and for Finance announced in the weekend media that six social housing premises at Millers Point will go on the market shortly.

The properties are identified, oddly enough, in the UK-based Daily Mail (graphic below).

In making the announcement, Minister Upton said:

'For every house sold in Millers Point, you could build three houses in many other suburbs in Sydney.'

This gives the impression that for every house sold, three will be built – for a net gain of two houses per sale. However, the NSW State Government has not committed to any such increase in the stock of social housing. In a briefing on the State Budget, the FACS Secretary stated that whether there would be any net increase in social housing would be 'line ball'.

On the sales process, Finance Minister Perrottet said:

The properties in Millers Point are of important historical significance for the people of New South Wales and we don’t want to rush the planning or sales processes....

We want to maintain as much of the culture and aesthetics of the Millers Point precinct as we can, and it will be incumbent on prospective buyers to preserve and respect the history of the area.

'We don't want to rush'? The NSW State Government proposes to sell 214 State-heritage listed properties in 18 months. We think something has got to give.




Resources: http://clearinghousetunsw.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/six-millers-point-properties-to-go-on.html 

Resident refuses to move as government sells off Sydney public housing at Millers, Dawes Points

Just don't call Flo Seckold a "houso".

The 80-year-old resident of Argyle Place, Dawes Point, was born in one of 293 properties that the NSW government has started to sell – and that is within cooee of the first six to go on the market this week. If she gets her way, Mrs Seckold will die in one of the oldest houses in one of Sydney's oldest suburbs. Mrs Seckold, a widow and the daughter of maritime workers, is angry at how public housing tenants in the area have been depicted as multi-generation al welfare bludgers. Most moved to the area as tenants of Maritime NSW, which built the cottages to house workers on the docks and ships.

"I am not going," Mrs Seckold said, adding the history of the area was not being told. "We have paid our way, we are not housos. I find that very objectionable. If you are talking about us, refer to us as department of Housing tenants – not housos." Advertisement Some of the properties are expected to sell for more than $3 million.

On Saturday, an open house for a six-year-old property – a few doors down from the government-owned 86 Windmill Street that will go on the market in days – was doing a brisk business.

Agents from McGrath said they expected the four-bedroom terrace house wouldsell for more than $2 million.

Next door to 86, new tenants paying $1475 a week were moving in to a 2½ bedroom renovated terrace. "I Iove the area, I love the history, the pathways, the rocks, and the access to the city," said James Fitzpatrick who had fallen in love with the house and moved in within two days of seeing it.

Public housing tenants pay about 25 per cent of their incomes in rent. For example, somebody on a full aged pension, which many residents receive, will pay about $90 a week for an unrenovated version of Mr Fitzpatrick's home. Public housing residents complain that the homes have not been maintained, and repairs have been kept to a minimum.

The government claims it will cost as much as $100 million to restore and maintain the properties.

The average maintenance bill of each property at Millers and Dawes Point averages about $14,500 a year, compared with $3000 to $3500 across the rest of the state.

Announcing the sale of the first six properties, the Minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, and Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, said millions of dollars would be reinvested back into the state's social housing system.

Every house sold in Millers Point would "build three houses in many other suburbs of Sydney," the ministers said in a statement. Ms Upton said: "While we are very conscious that this involves relocating tenants who live in these properties, a tough decision had to be taken that will benefit far more people in need of housing assistance.

"It simply is not fair to the 58,000 applicants on the social housing waiting list for the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars maintaining properties which are not suitable for public housing." The member for Sydney Alex Greenwich attacked the sale as being part of the government's social cleansing agenda, which "seeks to kick out low-income earners and vulnerable people from the city to make way for casinos". "

Cruelly this sales process has been announced the same week as the government has handed James Packer a gambling license for a private casino on public land next door to Millers Point," Mr Greenwich said.

He also said the government had yet to announce a strategy or plan on how it would invest the money from the sales into new public housing.

"The government is selling off a piece of Sydney's history, and prioritising casinos over communities," Mr Greenwich said. John Dunn, a publisher who moved to the area five years ago, said families such as Mrs Seckold's were not unusual.

 "Maritime was both employer and landlord for nearly everyone in this part of Sydney," he said. Mrs Seckold has met with the government's relocation consultants assigned to ease the transition for residents. She said the housing officer was kind, but still she has no plans to go.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/resident-refuses-to-move-as-government-sells-off-sydney-public-housing-at-millers-dawes-points-20140712-zt5f6.html#ixzz37FSkDQfm

NSW government reveals first Millers Point public housing properties to be sold off

By: JULIE POWER 12 Jul, 2014                                         

                                           

Residents are unhappy about the government's plans to sell of hundreds of public housing properties.

 

Residents are unhappy about the government's plans to sell of hundreds of public housing properties.

Public housing residents have been evicted as the first of the 293 government-owned properties at Millers Point and The Rocks go under the hammer within the next few months. The sale of the first six heritage properties will test the waters in what real estate agents say could become some of Sydney's priciest and most exclusive harbourside suburbs of the future.

Similar freehold properties have sold for as much as $3 million each.    The six properties will be auctioned, and the public housing residents in these properties will be relocated, the NSW government announced Saturday.

The marketing of the properties will begin next week. Justifying the eviction of many tenants who have lived in the properties for their lifetimes, ministers said today the sale would reinvest millions of dollars back into the state's social housing system. For every house sold in Millers Point, the government would "build three houses in many other suburbs of Sydney," the Minister for Family and Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, and Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, said in a statement. "While we are very conscious that this involves relocating tenants who live in these properties, a tough decision had to be taken that will benefit far more people in need of housing assistance," said Ms Upton. "It simply is not fair to the 58,000 applicants on the social housing waiting list for the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars maintaining properties which are not suitable for public housing." Of the 293 government owned properties, 214 are heritage listed.

The government claims it would cost as much as $100 million to restore and maintain the properties. The average maintenance bill of each property averages around $14,500 a year, compared with $3,000 to $3,500 across the rest of the state. The sale of the properties is expected to rapidly gentrify one of Sydney's oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods. An agent who has sold former public housing previously told Fairfax Media that once it was gentrified "it will be such an exclusive suburb,''

Di Jones agent Andrew Stewart said. ''I don't know of an area in Sydney at all that would have the attributes of the housing of this area. You are right on the waterfront but also a short walk to the CBD, ferries just down the street. Maybe Kirribilli is similar, but most of Kirribilli is apartments.'' Mr Perrottet said the sales would test the market, but wouldn't be rushed.    "The properties in Millers Point are of important historical significance for the people of NSW and we don't want to rush the planning or the sales processes," he said.   He said the process of relocating tenants was being done with "sensitivity and compassion." A Tenant Relocation Team was "going to great lengths to satisfy their specific requests."   Three of the six properties are located in Dawes Point, and the rest are in Millers Point. Tennants of the six properties have already been relocated.

http://www.goodfruitandvegetables.com.au/news/metro/national/general/nsw-government-reveals-first-millers-point-public-housing-properties-to-be-sold-off/2705034.aspx 

CLEARING HOUSE: the Tenants' Union of NSW's social housing estate redevelopment blog

'Housing lotto': relocations from Millers Point and The Rocks.

Here's Ten News on the 'choice-based lettings' system – introduced to relocate tenants from Millers Point and The Rocks – in action.

 

NEED HOUSING LOTTO

 

If you're a social housing tenant at Millers Point and The Rocks and you've any questions or concerns about your housing, please speak with a tenants advocate from Redfern Legal Centre.

Canberra Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millers Point lament

Peter Whitehead · Saturday, July 5, 2014

Millers Point is in the news lately for a lot of wrong reasons. But back in the day, Barney Gardner recalls, cab drivers would start across the bridge to Milsons Point before he’d call “Whoah!” and throw the driver a few bob, jump out and cut across Observatory Hill to his High Street home.

A Millers Point residence expresses pride and defiance (Photo: Geoff Turnbull)

Regular readers will remember Barney as a leader of the rearguard action against the state government’s relocation of 400 residents from the area abutting Barangaroo. “Relocation is a nice way of saying forced eviction,” he reckons.

The terraces of High Street were built to house wharfies. Today the memory of the wharves is being buried by earth-moving machinery making mounds and stacking sandstone to approximate a pre-invasion foreshore. The future promises sunsets over eucalypt-packed parkland.

But Barney and his friends and neighbours will be somewhere else by then, unless the government is thwarted. According to NSW Finance Minister, Greg Pearce: “The Land and Housing Corporation’s portfolio at Millers Point is poorly suited for social housing, being heritage-listed older houses, which cannot be modified to meet modern requirements.”

National Trust Advocacy Director, Graham Quint, says the area’s heritage value and its people have been ignored. “The area’s twice been listed. Now the second State Heritage listing specifically spoke about the social history and these people who are about to be evicted.”

Before World War I, this knob of land north of the city was a blighted place, a plaguey dockside slum. Between the wars it was the centre of an industrial harbour, bustling beneath the Bridge that opened in 1932. Public housing predominated. There was a stigma.

Barney remembers his daughter being snubbed by a Dover Heights school friend. Now her shameful suburb is a pot of gold. According to Pru Goward, Minister for Family and Community Services: “For the price of every terrace house sold under the previous government, we could build about four new suitable public housing dwellings.”

Professor Peter Phibbs, University of Sydney, declares Goward “seems to be the Minister for real estate, and not actually thinking about the needs of the tenants down there”.

The Minister cites the 57,000 people on public housing waiting lists and asserts these assets must be sold “despite the short-term anguish it may cause”.

“This sell-off amounts to the destruction of a community. It will cause hardship and grief to the people of Millers Point”, counters Dr Chris Martin, Senior Policy Officer for the Tenants’ Union of NSW.

In mid June, the privately owned Munn Street offices adjoining North Barangaroo went up for sale. A price around $40 million is expected. “Inner-city properties like these are now being seen in a new light,” said James Parry of Knight Frank. “They can be converted into a hotel to cater for the overflow from Crown and also the new huge number of office workers that will be in the area.”
In 1999, Millers Point was declared a Conservation Area. In 2003 Millers Point and Dawes Point were placed on the State Heritage Register. It is a yuppy dream that private buyers revive these glorious dwellings appropriately. But many of the 200 historic terraces may be sold in blocks to building companies and the sorry story is that heritage is routinely trumped when the minister deems a development to be a State Significant Site.

Before too long, treat yourself to a sunny afternoon, strolling the time-capsule streets the other side of the Argyle Cut. Chance into any one of the sandstone pubs claiming to be Australia’s first hotel. Yarn with the locals. But do it soon, before it’s gone.

Reference from: http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/millers-point-lament/#.U7ksx8-KDIU

Public Housing Residents of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks

http://portfolio.nicporter.com/millers-point

Public housing residents of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks have been living under the shadow of eviction and a public housing sell-off for many years.

On the morning of March 19th 2014, approximately 400 residents received a notice of eviction, advising they had two years to vacate their premises and relocate. The NSW State Government claim that the cost of rent subsidies and maintenance of properties, had become too high. They vow that every dollar that is raised from the sale of the properties will be reinvested in social housing support.

Many residents and supporters of the Millers Point community see it as outright social cleansing and a State Government cash grab. Those in favour of the evictions see it as removing undeserving and low income people from their "waterfront" properties.

People on both sides point to the development of nearby Barangaroo as a primary reason for the evictions.

It is a complicated issue, surrounded by political agenda, property development, social welfare, harbour views, and a long working-class history of the area.

This ongoing photo essay, documents the people

Pru Goward announced

Pru Goward announced on the 19^th of March that all public housing in Millers Point, Dawes Point & Gloucester Street in the Rocks would be sold off and 400 tenants would be evicted over the next two years, including the descendants of the original Millers Point maritime workers. The Social Impact Assessment was also released the same day that the Millers Point residents were notified. The Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) promised that the Social Impact Assessment would be shown to tenants before any decisions were made.

The Land and Housing Corporation had received heritage office approval last year to construct a building at Millers Point to accommodate up to 140 long-term residents - avoiding the need to evict elderly residents from the suburb when their terraces were sold. Ms Goward instead favoured removing all public housing from Millers Point, which is set to become one of Sydney's richest addresses.

The O'Farrell cabinet approved construction plans for 153 public housing units, 95 affordable housing units and 247 private apartments on the site last December.

Fifteen public housing apartments in Cowper Street, Glebe, were demolished by the state Labor government in 2011. Labor evicted 130 tenants but promised to build housing on the site with the proceeds of money raised by the sale of 99-year leases to Millers Point terraces, but the land is still vacant and a development application was lodged and contested in court.

The State Heritage listing is for the whole of Millers Point as a totality and that listing includes its social meaning (the people) as well as its buildings. Millers Point & Dawes Point Village Precinct is of state significance as a rare, if not the only, example of a maritime harbour side precinct that contains evidence of over 200 years of human settlement and activity that spans all historical phases in Australia since 1788. While there are other historical maritime precincts in Australia that might show a comparable mix of historical and contemporary values, none are as old or so intimately associated with the spectrum of historical, social, aesthetic, technological and research values that have shaped Australian society since 1788.
 

Millers Point & Dawes Point Village Precinct is significant through associations with a community in NSW for social, cultural and spiritual reasons. A proportion of the existing population is descended from previous generations of Millers Point locals, and has fostered a strong and loyal sense of community and solidarity.

This physical evidence of the area's history is complemented by the wealth of oral history contained within the existing resident population, which is a rare resource that allows a greater opportunity to understand the historic role of Millers Point and its social frameworks.

Sydney's waterfront should not simply be for those who can afford multi-million dollar apartments. Low income workers, the disabled and pensioners are as entitled to inner city housing as any other citizen. The gentrification of an area comes at the cost of removing families from homes and individuals from areas which they were born into. Forced removal will destroy this community, the heritage and cause distress to the current residents.

''It's not just that they are descendants of the maritime workers, but that governments in the early 20th century seemed to understand that you had to have a place for workers to live in the city, not just the rich,'' Ms Shirley Fitzgerald said.

Our communities are invaluable no matter where they are located. We should fight to preserve them.

Not destroy them for yet another soulless, generic development. Millers Point & it’s history is irreplaceable.