Millers Point for Sale

21 March 2014: Millers Point for Sale

This week the state government announced plans to sell off 293 public housing properties in Millers Point and The Rocks.  Residents of Millers Point and The Rocks must be thinking here we go again, as this is not the first time the housing has been considered for sale.
The area has a long history of conflict over housing and housing rights, spanning most of the twentieth century and now the first decades of the twenty first.  It also has a long history of publically owned housing.

In 1900 the arrival of the plague in Sydney heralded the resumption of Millers Point and The Rocks by the state.  Residents’ houses were resumed and demolished, and the government became the new landlord.  To replace those lost the Sydney Harbour Trust, and then the State Housing Board, built new apartments and flats between 1908 and about 1915 to house the workers, many of them wharf labourers, who had lived in the area.




In 1936 the Trust was reconstituted as the Maritime Services Board, and responsibility for housing was divested to the MSB.  The MSB provided the houses for workers and their families already in the area, rather then what we would consider needs based housing that Housing NSW provides now.  Some of these families were second or third generation residents.  This practice of inheriting the house continued until the late 1980s, when with the declining wharf usage in the area, the MSB handed control of housing to the NSW Housing commission, putting Millers Point into the general pool of housing.

In 1988 the then Greiner Liberal Government made the first attempt to sell properties in the area.  In November the sale of two hotels, the Hero of Waterloo and the Harbour View, was advertised.  After protests about undermining the character of the area, the sales went ahead with Conservation Orders on the hotels to protect them.  Attempts to sell some of the shops and residences above them the following year was meet with more opposition, and the sales were deferred.  Research into the area as part of the proposal, concluded that Millers Point was an area of national significance, with an outstanding urban significance best managed through ongoing government ownership.

In The Rocks, the current proposal is also to sell the Sirius apartment block.  This block was built in 1979 to house those long term residents who had lost their houses in the demolitions on the 1960s and early 1970s that had led to the Green Bans by the BLF.  The Sirius apartments were a revolution in public housing in NSW.  Designed by Tao Gofers and Government Architects for NSW Housing Commission, the modernist design incorporated individual refinements for residents determined through interviews with the prospective tenants.  Much like in Millers Point, the residents included families who had lived in The Rocks since the colonial period.

One historian has commented that the Sirius building is ‘an artefact of a time when governments believed that all citizens deserved quality housing’.  Those days may be coming to an end.  Mind you they’re a tough bunch down there and have won fights before.

The question is who does the city belong to? Is it only for the rich, those who can pay up for harbour views?  What about public housing in other increasingly exclusive suburbs like Newtown, Redfern, Balmain, Glebe?  Any what about diversity, vibrant communities, a fair go for all?

http://scratchingsydneyssurface.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/21-march-2014-millers-point-for-sale/

Sad state if there’s no place for poor in our city

THE people of Millers Point have not seen or heard from Christine Forster recently. If she spent more time with her constituents, her opinion piece in Thursday’s Daily Telegraph might not have been a rehash of the government’s media releases and spin.
              
Since being elected I have worked with the residents of Millers Point and the state government to seek an outcome that would protect this part of Australia’s history.

Having convinced the government of the need for its ageing population to be near services, it initiated a Social Impact Assessment. The assessment recommended a number of options that would have retained housing for those most in need. Despite promises, the government failed to release the study before making its decision, probably because the study did not support a wholesale sell-off.

Former Liberal minister Greg Pearce devised a plan to retain around 150 properties. Sadly these were discarded by the government, which is now planning a clearance sale. I cannot think of a term other than “social cleansing” to describe the systematic removal of all poor, vulnerable and elderly people.

Media is repeatedly shown a few terraces that are apparently “too good” for public housing tenants, but many properties are low-key 1980s units, without views apart from the Barangaroo construction site.

The “massive subsidies” the government alleges these residents receive are just based on the difference between market rent that someone made up and the rent paid by tenants — which is based on income, the same as for all social housing tenants.

Many tenants make their own repairs, because the government has neglected them pretty well since the then Housing Commission took them over. Maritime Services gave the land to the government years back to ensure our city had a place for low-income earners and vulnerable groups.

The decision to sell fails to address the vacuum of social and affordable housing in the inner city.

Sadly the government says we need a casino in this area but not a community that supports aged, ill and frail people.

Alex Greenwich is an independent NSW MP

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/sad-state-if-theres-no-place-for-poor-in-our-city/story-fni0cwl5-1226866758139

 

Millers Point faces ‘social cleansing’

Saturday, March 29, 2014       

By Duncan Roden

A protest to save Millers Point in Sydney on March 25. Photo: Peter Boyle.

      

Community Services Minister Pru Goward announced that 293 public housing in Millers Point and The Rocks on Sydney's harbourside would be sold. The billions gained would be used to invest in public housing in the rest of the state, Goward said. But the sell-off would come at a human cost — the destruction of the close-knit working-class community that has existed there for hundreds of years.

Barney Gardner is a well-known community leader and a member of Millers Point Save Our Homes. The 65-year-old has lived in Millers Point all his life. For him and many others, the government's announcement is a tragedy.

Millers Point has a long history of hosting Sydney's poor workers. Gardner told Green Left Weekly: “People say Australia was born on a sheep's back. That may be true, but all that wool had to go somewhere, and it came here to be exported.”

The area originally housed mainly maritime workers who worked on the nearby wharves. The rents were cheap because of the nature of the area. In fact, up until only a few decades ago, the wealthier denizens of Sydney looked down on the area.

“The roads were our playgrounds, we swam down in the harbour, we would go fishing because you could do it for free down on the wharves,” Gardner said.

But the area has changed markedly. “I've seen a lot of the old woolstores turned into offices, and a lot of the offices turned into apartments. This wasn’t done for the benefit for the public housing tenants, but we still got along with all these people. We have no jealousy or animosity towards them.”
Indeed, Gardner told GLW that many new private residents love the simple fact that people say hello to each other in the streets, a rarity in the rest of the bustling metropolis.

The community’s spirit remains high, but public housing conditions have deteriorated. "They didn’t continue doing the regular repairs that the maritime board did, who previously managed our housing. Houses began to fall into disrepair, some of the places are shocking. But we do the best we can, we all help each other out. I personally have helped paint two houses.”

The residents see a long-term trend of the department seems to deliberately run down the public housing tenancy. "I've been told now that since 2009, no families were being moved into this area. They were moving single elderly people in, they were moving vulnerable people in. It was a form of attack on us, the public housing tenants, because the government knows they can move them on at any time. The thorn in their side is us long-termers ... but we've adopted a lot of these vulnerable people into our community too.

“They move a lot of people with social problems here, more than we can handle. Mind you we look after our neighbours if they've got a problem, but we can't look after them all. They just fall through the cracks in the system.

“They're gonna socially cleanse this area ... it’s the total destruction of a community that has existed for near on 200 years.”

Even if the sell-off takes place, Gardner is wary of what will come of the money. The government has previously made $42 million by selling 30 houses in the area, which was meant to be reinvested in the area. “When we questioned them they said, no it’s going to Glebe. We asked people in Glebe were there any major projects in the area, they said no. Where has the money gone? Are we to trust them to put billions of dollars back into public housing? I think not.”

The media have spread many misconceptions about Millers Point public housing. One is the low rent they pay. People in public housing are the most vulnerable in society, and the waiting list is about 50,000 in NSW. It is reasonable to expect that most people in housing are on welfare. “Everyone knows when you pay rent to department of housing when you're on welfare, you pay 25% and that’s a minimum of at least $100. Low income earners pay 30%, Gardner said. “And it goes up the scale until you pay market rates.”

"My dad worked on the wharves, my mum worked in the canteen on the wharves. We've contributed to this community for years. I know people who go back four or five generations. We haven’t been sitting on our bums on welfare all the time, we built this community. I wish people would appreciate that instead of saying we're all welfare bludgers."

Gardner was an electrician then a dockworker until both his hips needed replacement, forcing him onto the disability pension. His partner Glenda “lost a few jobs in the Rocks that have closed down. She still goes to jobsearch, but she's 64. So where does she place on the system?"

Another myth is their million-dollar views. Gardner said: "In front of me were double decker finger wharves. No view. That was stripped down to make container sheds, no view. That was pulled down and it was the first time we had a view. But that’s soon to be lost because they're going to develop Barangaroo." Other properties, he said, have “good” views of old woolstores, apartment buildings and concrete walls.

Another misconception is the millions in subsidies that Goward says tenants in Millers Point receive. But as the NSW Tenants Union says, this is just the perceived missed revenue for not charging tenants market rates.

In other words, tenants are not receiving millions in cash from the government. Instead they are paying the department rents, and receiving barely any maintenance in return — and the possible destruction of their communities.

"It's just a total grab for money at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people of our society. The people own these properties, the people should have a say about whether we should stay or go.”

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56145

Residents of Ivanhoe estate worried they are next on ’hit list’

Front: Esme Drew and Marie Sillers. Back: shadow housing minister Sophie Cotsis and Labor candidate for Ryde Jerome Laxale with concerned residents. Picture David Swift Source: News Corp Australia

Ivanhoe Estate residents are nervous about their future following the State Government’s announcement that it would sell public housing in Millers Point. 
              
Ivanhoe Estate Tenant Group secretary Marie Sillars feared there was a “hit list” of public housing the Government was getting rid of and that their community was next.

The 600-plus residents of Ivanhoe, in Macquarie Park, have long worried their community could face the wreckers ball after it was declared an Urban Activation Precinct in 2012, destined for redevelopment into high-rise apartments.

“We are now into our third year of not knowing,” Ms Sillars said.

“It’s very depressing for everybody and we need answers.”

Esme Drew, 80, said she would not cope if the estate was shut down because she would be separated from a friend who cared for her.

“I don’t think I’d survive to be truthful — I’m not steady on my feet and every year I get older, it will become harder,” she said.

80-year-old Esme Drew at her home at the Ivanhoe Estate in Macquarie Park. Photo: Dave Swift Source: News Corp Australia 

  

Labor candidate for Ryde Jerome Laxale, who visited the estate with shadow housing minister Sophie Cotsis, said it was clear the O’Farrell Government was on a mission to sell public housing.

They both called on the Government to rule out demolishing the estate.

“Society should work together to help those that are most in need and the Ivanhoe community is a perfect example of this,” Mr Laxale said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Planning said plans for the precinct were being finalised and were expected to be released soon.

A spokesman for Community Services Minister Pru Goward said: “The Government has made no further decision on public housing estate sales.”