Government used "tea leaves" on Millers Point sale: expert

August 23, 2014
Nicole Hasham



Residents of Millers Point public housing protest the sale of their homes.

The state government is offloading hundreds of harbourside homes at Millers Point without economic modelling or an up-to-date social housing plan, raising doubts over the integrity of the controversial sale.

The absence of both a policy and economic data prompted one housing academic to ask if the public housing sell-off was decided by reading "tea leaves". NSW Labor says the government risks flooding the market with homes, damaging returns to taxpayers.

The Department of Family and Community Services on Friday refused to answer questions on why potential economic outcomes were not modelled before former Community Services Minister Pru Goward announced the sale in March.

It has emerged that NSW Land and Housing Corporation Deputy Director-General Anne Skewes told a parliamentary inquiry in May that "I have done no economic modelling" on the Millers Point sale.




Millers Point: a community under the hammer

Ms Skewes said "sales advice" was required "to know precisely the investment that will be made" when proceeds are fed back into the social housing system.

The first Millers Point home sold at auction on Thursday for $1.911 million. The government has 18 months to sell the remaining 292 properties and relocate hundreds of tenants.

Labor MP Sophie Cotsis described the decision to "sell an entire suburb" without economic modelling as "sheer incompetence".

"They are just going to flood the market," she said.

"The government says they will build more [social housing] properties, but where? We just don't know."

University of Sydney urban planning professor Peter Phibbs described the absence of modelling as "staggering".

"It seems pretty cavalier. It's a substantial change in policy, it's a lot of properties, a lot of money," he said, asking if bureaucrats used "tea leaves" to arrive at the decision.

A report by the NSW Auditor-General in June last year said selling public housing to fill a budget shortfall was "not financially sustainable".

It called on the government to produce a new social housing policy, and strategies to manage housing estates and its asset portfolio, by December. The plans have not been delivered.

A departmental spokeswoman said the government was "developing its social housing priorities".

She said the Millers Point sale was "due to the high cost of maintenance … and high potential sales value".

"Selling properties at Millers Point is a financially sustainable way … to manage the portfolio," the spokeswoman said.

"The sales proceeds and savings in maintenance costs mean more money will be available to assist those who need help from the social housing system."

As reported, Lend Lease is wavering on a commitment to build affordable housing at Barangaroo, and has considered locating it at Millers Point.

City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott is due to put a motion to the council on Monday, calling for affordable housing to be built at Barangaroo.

"There is an urgent need for more affordable housing in the inner-city which is close to jobs and transport," she said.

Resourced: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/government-used-tea-leaves-on-millers-point-sale-expert-20140822-107ceq.html

Friends of Erskineville express concerns for public housing with proposal to redevelop Central to Eveleigh

Darren Jenkins, president of FOE, talks to resident Elena Black about the NSW Government's plans to redevelopment 46 homes on Explorer Street, South Eveleigh. Picture: Craig Wilson

Sarah Sharples   August 22, 2014


ELANA Black has already been moved out of her public housing unit in Glebe because the building was knocked down. She doesn’t want to be displaced again.

The mother of three was living in Edgar St, Glebe, before being given six months notice that she had to move.
She moved into a big four-bedroom house in Darling St in Glebe but was “fortunate” to do a swap into public housing in Eveleigh.

“It’s so quiet here. It’s heaven and it’s beautiful here. It’s such a change to come here,” Ms Black said. “We’re so relieved we could sleep in our beds and not worry about fighting and screaming on the streets.”

 

The public housing town houses in South Eveleigh potentially earmarked for development. Picture: Craig Wilson

    

MORE NEWS: Barangaroo rats seek board and lodging in Millers Point

Doubts cast on the viability of Millers Point public housing sell-off

But a plan from the NSW Government to redevelop the Central to Eveleigh corridor — including taller residential buildings adjacent to the rail corridor in South Eveleigh — has left community group Friends of Erskineville (FOE) worried about the implications for public housing in the area.

FOE president Darren Jenkins and committee member Zio Ledeux doorknocked 46 public townhouses in the area earlier this month to let residents know about the plan.

“When the Government puts forward material like this and when they show this grand plan, which must mean knocking someone’s house down and you don’t do anything to reassure the residents, you can frighten some very vulnerable people,” he said.

“Several of the families we spoke with while doorknocking had already been relocated from public housing that had been sold off and now here is the prospect that they will be asked to pack up and move out again — it’s just not right,” he said.

“Those families that had just moved from Millers Point — to think they would be pushed out of their house again in the next five years is galling.”

A protest is held out the front of the John McGrath Real Estate Office in Edgecliff over the auctions taking place at the Millers Point Housing Commission homes. An apartment sold for around two million dollars.

A Department of Family and Community Services spokeswoman said there are just under 100 social housing properties in the South Eveleigh area.

“The department of Family & Community Services will be seeking to maintain social housing in the area,” she said.

FOE has written to Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton expressing concerns about the NSW Government’s redevelopment plans and seeking assurances that public housing residents will not be forced from their homes and relocated out of the area. 

A letter has been sent to Family and Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton expressing concerns about the proposed plans.

    

For Ms Black, she is tired of the image of public housing people just being “ferals”, but said honest people live in housing commission.

“I pay full rent so I should be treated as a private tenant. I love it here,” she said.

I am just not prepared to move. But we will be the last people to know that they’re going to knock this place down — that’s what happened to us in Glebe.”



First six public housing properties being sold by the state government at Millers Point at The Rocks. 119 Kent Street, Millers Point.

     DEVELOPMENT DETAILS


■ The South Eveleigh Precinct vision is a primarily residential precinct centred around neighbourhood scale shops and high-quality public spaces, along with walkable streets with excellent connects to the surrounding neighbourhoods


■ The development is planned for some time in the next five years


■ It would comprise diverse apartment buildings — taller buildings adjacent to the rail corridor with lower buildings on the precinct edges to provide a transition to the existing low-scale neighbourhood

Resourced: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/inner-west/friends-of-erskineville-express-concerns-for-public-housing-with-proposal-to-redevelop-central-to-eveleigh/story-fngr8h4f-1227038459721?nk=6d837b9c7b4805c4645de249122a94f0