Owners of old public housing at Millers Point prepare to renovate amid fears it could put heritage at risk

James Gorman  June 18, 2015



The Development Proposal notification has been pinned to the front fence at 11 Lower Fort St. Source: News Corp Australia

             THE first buyers of Millers Point public housing are wasting no time in planning their dream homes, with two development applications currently before the City of Sydney.         

A $784,696 DA for 11 Lower Fort St and a $350,000 DA for 30 Argyle Place have both been lodged in recent weeks.

Lower Fort St sold at auction for $3.95 million in October, while the Argyle Place home sold for $1.71 million in November.  

The Lower Fort St terrace features spectactular harbour views.... Source: Supplied

   

...but its interiors are basic... Source: Supplied

   

...and the yard could do with some landscaping. Source: Supplied

     The owner of the Lower Fort St property plans “internal reconfiguration, restoration works, demolition of existing outbuilding at rear and construction of a new single storey addition to courtyard.”

 

The plans for 30 Argyle Place include “internal refurbishment and conservation works throughout and rear single storey addition at lower ground level to courtyard”.

As well as council approval, both plans also require the approval of the Heritage Division of the Office of Environment and Heritage.

A DOZEN MILLERS POINT HOMES HIT THE MARKET

STRUGGLE STREET IN CENTRAL SYDNEY

Unlike the public housing sold for 99-year leases under the former Labor government, these acquisitions and those subsequent are freehold, resulting in reduced heritage restrictions in terms of renovations.

Sydney State MP Alex Greenwich suspected the big sales prices achieved by the Millers Point properties to date may have been influenced by the State Government’s decision to switch to a freehold sale.  



Independent State MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich. Source: News Corp Australia

 “When you sell a property on a 99-year lease the owners are charged with protecting the heritage values of that property or they risk losing that lease,” he said.

 

“When you sell a property freehold you don’t have the same enforcement powers. Based on the size of these DAs hopefully that indicates the buyers value heritage and will restore the properties accordingly.

“I am not sure why the State Government changed the lease for the Millers Point sale. They could have put the restrictions on but then that could have impacted the sale price.”

A spokeswoman from the Office of Environment and Heritage said even under a freehold sale, owners were required to seek approval for renovations from the Heritage Council of NSW.

“No 11 Lower Fort Street and No 30 Argyle Place were sold with a Conservation Management Plan endorsed by the Heritage Council of NSW (the Heritage Council) under Section 38A of the Heritage Act 1977 (the Act),” the spokeswoman said.  

A DA has also been submitted for 30 Argyle Pl. Source: News Corp Australia

    

The kitchen at 30 Argyle Pl. Source: Supplied

    

Like many of the old Millers Point properties, the home requires plenty of work. Source: Supplied

   

“Owners of properties listed on the State Heritage Register have responsibilities under the Act. They are required to seek the approval from the Heritage Council of NSW for most development or work carried out on the property.

“Land and Housing Corporation has sought and received endorsement for a number of exemptions for minor works within Millers Point.”

Millers Point public housing resident Barney Gardner, whose home could be sold in the State Government sell-off, stressed the importance of maintaining the precinct’s historic values.

“If you take all of the resident away, Millers Point will lose its identity and if you take the heritage values of these properties away then you will lose a piece of Sydney’s history.” 

Millers Point public housing activist Barney Gardner. Source: News Corp Australia

     A Deparment of Family & Community Services spokesman said efforts were being made to protect the heritage of Millers Point.

 

“The NSW Government continues to work closely with the Heritage Council of NSW to ensure heritage values are maintained,” a spokesman said.

TELL US: WILL HERITAGE VALUES BY KEPT IN MILLERS POINT AS THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN?

“The provision of new social housing will mean that more families in desperate need on the social housing waiting list can get secure, affordable housing.

“Millers Point sales proceeds are being put into the social housing system and approximately 1500 dwellings are forecast to be funded from these sales.” 

Protesters outside the first of the Millers Point auctions held last year.

 

RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/owners-of-old-public-housing-at-millers-point-prepare-to-renovate-amid-fears-it-could-put-heritage-at-risk/story-fngr8h22-1227402162863 

Millers Point home on the market again as owners expect to reap $590,000 profit

Nicole Hasham June 16, 2015



A former public housing property at Millers Point has hit the market for $2.5 million. It was bought by an investor 10 months ago for just $1.91 million. Photo: Supplied
A former public housing property at Millers Point is on the market again with an expected sale price $590,000 more than the government netted last year, prompting claims the sale was rushed and taxpayers were dudded.
The potential resale comes as it emerged the private owner carried out illegal renovations and unlawfully ran a tourism venture from the historic 1880s property, highlighting the potential heritage issues involved in relinquishing public control of the assets.
The government sold the heritage-listed harbourside home at 119 Kent Street for $1,911,000 in August last year. It was the first of 293 properties to be sold at Millers Point and The Rocks, which will eventually force about 600 public housing tenants to relocate.

Before: The main bedroom when the home sold for $1.91 million last year. Photo: Supplied

The four-level Victorian Italianate terrace with views over Walsh Bay had an initial price guide of more than $1 million, which was later revised to more than $1.3 million.

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The government described the original sale as "an excellent test for the market" which confirmed buyer demand for the suburb.
It says the controversial sales program, decried by critics as "social cleansing", will raise much-needed funds to build more public housing properties elsewhere and alleviate long waiting lists.

After: Minimal work has been done on the property since it traded 10 months ago.

The buyers, the Sfeir family, carried out bathroom and kitchen works which agent Harriet France, of Sydney Sotheby's International Realty, said were "not an amazing super-expensive renovation but … clean and cheerful and liveable".
Ms France said the owners now expect to fetch $2.5 million for the home at auction – a price she said was in line with former government-owned properties recently sold in the same street.
The City of Sydney has confirmed it ordered the new owner to remove two unauthorised partition walls and to cease renting the property for tourist accommodation. The owner agreed to comply with the orders.

The four-level Victorian Italianate terrace has views over Walsh Bay. Photo: Supplied

The spokesman said while approval was required for the kitchen and bathroom renovations, none was sought and the council's investigations are continuing.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Millers Point was one of the nation's most important conservation sites and "it is absolutely essential that the area's irreplaceable history isn't damaged or lost through misuse or misunderstanding by new owners".
NSW Labor's social housing spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk said the government had rushed the sales "without any proper consideration to due process, without any proper consideration of the proper market value and the potential consequences … of what it would mean to the heritage value".
She demanded the government disclose the reserve price for 119 Kent Street, and the results of any independent property valuations it received.
The government has previously been criticised for failing to prepare a business plan for the sell-off.
The office of Housing Minister Brad Hazzard referred inquiries to a NSW Finance Department spokeswoman, who said property valuations and reserve prices were commercial in confidence.
She said price guides were determined by real estate agents and selling the homes at auction allowed the market "to determine true property value".
Millers Point: a community under the hammer
The spokeswoman said the expected price increase may be due to the renovations or market conditions.
Buyers agent Patrick Bright said the expected price increase begged the question: "Was it sold at the right money the first time around or was it sold a bit conservatively? I think the price guide clearly was on the low side".
However Mr Bright said a strong housing market, the renovation, limited housing supply around Millers Point and "foreign investment pouring into the market" meant it was possible the home had naturally increased in value by almost $600,000.

RESOURCED: http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/millers-point-home-on-the-market-again-as-owners-expect-to-reap-590000-profit-20150616-gholmd.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn%3Atwi-13omn1677-edtrl-other%3Annn-17%2F02%2F2014-edtrs_socialshare-all-nnn-nnn-vars-o&sa=D&usg=ALhdy28zsr6qiq 

Quick flip profits sought for 119 Kent Street, Millers Point former state government offering

From social housing to speculators.

The first government-sold heritage terrace at Millers Point that fetched $1,911,000 just 10 months ago is back for sale.

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The 1880s terrace was the first of scheduled 293 public housing properties to be sold off by Government Property NSW in August last year.

The then rundown four-bedroom heritage-listed home had been vacant since early 2011 with the last public housing tenant paying $77.20 a week rent at the property which has water views over Walsh Bay.

Jonathan Chancellor | 14 June 2015

The relisted 119 Kent Street, Millers Point home sits on a 109 sq m block with no parking.
The house has original fireplaces and floorboards, 3.25m high ceilings and a sandstone-walled sunlit courtyard.

It is marketed by Harriett France a Sotheby's as "recently refreshed with new kitchens and bathrooms - scope for further improvement."

Around $2.5 million is expected by the Sfeir family.

The controversial sell off, which has resulted in the relocation of public housing tenants, is tipped to set off a major gentrification in the historic suburb.

The state government has created a website to sell the virtues.

RESOURCED: http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/residential-investment/investor-showcase/43409-quick-flick-sought-for-119-kent-street-millers-point-state-government-offering.html 

Demolished Glebe public housing to be resold to private buyers

Kirsty Needham 13.6.2015



Kirsty Needham

The site of the new development on Cowper Street in Glebe. Photo: Fiona Morris

The Baird government will finally announce plans on Sunday to rebuild the demolished Glebe public housing estate on Cowper Street as a mixed private, public and affordable housing community.

Last year Fairfax Media revealed the site was likely to accommodate public housing tenants forced out of Millers Point in the government land sell-off.

The O'Farrell cabinet approved construction plans for 153 public housing units, 95 affordable housing units and 247 private apartments on the site in 2013.

The site as it stood in 2010, when it was public housing. Photo: Marco Del Grande

Expressions of interest for the private apartments will go out next week. A spokeswoman for Families and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard said the money raised from the private apartments will be reinvested in social housing.

Property prices in Glebe have recently soared amid interest from Chinese investors in the prime inner city location, significantly lifting the expected profit to be returned from the private apartments.

Fifteen public housing apartment blocks in Cowper Street, Glebe, were demolished by the state Labor government in 2011. Labor evicted 130 tenants but promised to build new housing on the site with the proceeds of money raised by the sale of 99-year leases to Millers Point terraces.

But the land was left vacant for years as a development application was lodged and contested in court.

Non-profit community housing groups City West and Bridge Housing will construct and manage the new properties, which will be partly funded under the now abolished National Rental Affordability Scheme. The units will include lift access for elderly people living alone.

NSW Treasury has handed over the title to the land to the community housing providers.
The project was originally expected to be completed in December 2016.

RESOURCED: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/demolished-glebe-public-housing-to-be-resold-to-private-buyers-20150613-ghn5wo.html 

Community Working Party Newsletter JUNE 2015

Where We Are At…..

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 The Community Working Party had a productive meeting with Minister Brad Hazard on Friday 22 May. The meeting was facilitated by our Local Member, Alex Greenwich and included the Lord Mayor Clover Moore. We were also accompanied by Flo Seckold, one of our older tenants who has lived in Millers Point for many years.   

The Minister agreed to consider and respond to the alternative plan for Millers Point put forward by Millers Point Public Housing Tenants’ Group Convenor Barney Gardner who said the State Government could retain around half of its public housing portfolio in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks and still make around $300 million for investment in new housing stock.

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“So far the State Government has raised around $38 million from the sale of just 16 properties million. Just last week the State Government collected $4.23 million from the sale of a single Millers Point heritage dwelling.

“If these sales values are maintained, the State Government could stop the selloff at 143 of the 293 Government owned properties in Millers Point and still make around $340 million. The State Government could retain purpose built, low maintenance and low value properties for people who are elderly, frail or have a disability to age in place in their community while selling higher value

The Minister indicated that he would meet the Working Party again to consider the alternative plan.

The Minister also agreed to visit Millers Point with members of the Working Party (WP)  the first to do this since previous Minister Greg Piece over two years ago.

The WP is working to have everyone who lives here now remain in Millers Point and only to move out at their express wish.

 

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Community Afternoon Tea

Come and join the fun when the Community Working Party holds an afternoon tea at the Harry Jensen Community Centre on Saturday 20 June, 2015 between 2.00 and 4.00 pm.   

Bring a plate if you are a keen cook!

Do you know a Community Angel? Someone who has made life in Millers Point better, safer or more interesting?

We should take the time to think about these people and organisations and give them recognition in our Newsletter so please let the Working Party know of your nominations. We will need to know why you re making the nomination, of course.

Paul Upham  Highgate

The WP can start by thanking Paul Upham at Highgate. Paul has kept the Secretary informed of press releases and information gleaned from elsewhere about Millers Point and has also sent us photographs of events taking place outside Highgate. Highgate has also helped the RAG with archive storage.

 

Thank you, Paul.
We also take this opportunity to congratulate Highgate on their 20th anniversary.

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 Lord Mayor’s Meeting

The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, with representatives from Police, Housing NSW and other groups, held a community meeting in the Abraham Mott Hall on 20 May. While Housing NSW was unable to supply answers to those basic questions which we have been asking for over a year, there was a positive attitude to the meeting that was to be held on Friday 22 May.

On another matter, Inspector Tony Bell made the point that residents who are worried or frightened by noises in adjoining vacant public housing properties should ring the Rocks Police Station. While there has been little evidence of squatters in the area in recent months the Police would prefer to be notified so that they can check out any possible breakins. While the noises may have been generated by Housing NSW security guards it is better to be sure that the tenant and the adjoining property are safe.

Barney Gardner publicly acknowledged the fine work done by the Redfern Legal Service (RLS) and expressed the community’s appreciation for the work carried out by Local Member Alex Greenwich to promote the solution of the Millers Point ‘problem’. The Council’s financial support for the RLS was also warmly welcomed.

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RESOURCED: http://www.millerspointnotforsale.org.au/community_working_party_newsletter_june_20152

 

Affordable housing crisis: ideas are needed to keep workers in Sydney

June 6, 2015  Kirsty Needham

The sell-off of public housing at Millers Point boots out the poor to make way for the rich. Photo: Lisa Maree Williams

                                                                
Million-dollar price tags for unremarkable homes have changed the debate about Sydney housing affordability. Urban planners are now scratching their heads over how to include space for average wage earners – not the poor – in the city.

Much of the redevelopment of huge swathes of government land in the Bays Precinct will be glitzy harbour view apartments.

But the NSW Government's developer, Urban Growth, also wants "affordable housing" ideas for the inner west waterfront.

A year ago, "affordable housing" meant subsidising below-market rents for low income households.

 

Sky-rocketing property prices appear to have burst this egalitarian bubble. A Bays Precinct summit was told last month "affordable housing" would cater to the $40,000 to $90,000 income bracket.

By the time the official "call for great ideas" was issued by Urban Growth last week, only "moderate income earners that are so important to support a globally significant CBD economy" got a mention.
Moderate income is defined by the Centre for Affordable Housing as $60,000 to $90,000, or 80 to 120 per cent of the median Sydney income.

In 100 words or less, Sydney, please explain how police, teachers, nurses, and younger professionals can afford to live in this great city.

Committee for Sydney chief executive Tim Williams, who grew up in a public housing estate in Britain, has warned the housing affordability crisis in Sydney has locked 70 per cent of 35-year-olds out of home ownership.

Williams was a key adviser on housing affordability and urban regeneration in London, as Britain grappled with its own crisis a decade ago.

"The housing stress of global cities has reached people on average wages," he says.
Affordable housing policies are no longer about the very needy, but the ordinary, and will require government intervention to keep vital workers at the heart of the city.

There is a lot of public land in the Bays Precinct, he notes.

"Government has lots of land and could play a role in working with the housing sector and community housing sector. It would mean government moving from 'We sell the land to the highest bidder' to keeping the land for the long term."

The Committee for Sydney will release its affordable housing ideas shortly, in an attempt to prod the Baird Government into action. "The government needs a bolder approach," he says.

Among the ideas he is considering: shared equity (where the government pays half and the key worker pays half); more high-density public housing; and estate renewal of large public housing precincts in the city to include a greater mix of residents.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme was axed by the Abbott Government amid claims of "rorts" when it was used to market apartments in Broadway's Central Park (opposite a university) to students.

But the benefit of affordable housing schemes like that one is now highly visible around the city's university precinct – where student apartments have mushroomed.

Meanwhile, the sell-off of public housing at Millers Point boots out the poor to make way for the rich. Seven of 12 unrenovated terraces sold have fetched over $2 million each.
No teachers moving into that city neighbourhood, then.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/affordable-housing-crisis-ideas-are-needed-to-keep-workers-in-sydney-20150606-ghhygz

Housing minister Brad Hazzard reviews new plan to stop forced eviction of 130 Millers Point residents

June 04, 2015



Housing minister Brad Hazzard will be taken on a tour of the government housing at Millers Point. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: News Corp Australia

A PROPOSAL to save the remaining 130 public housing residents of Millers Point from eviction will be considered by NSW Families and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard.         
A delegation from the Millers Point community, along with Sydney State MP Alex Greenwich, Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Deputy Lord Mayor Robyn Kemmis, recently met Mr Hazzard to share their thoughts about the impacts of the government’s relocation program.

Mr Greenwich said the minister listened to an alternative proposal which would allow the 130 remaining residents to continue living in the precinct.  



Independent Sydney State MP Alex Greenwich. Picture: Craig Wilson Source: News Corp Australia

 “The alternative approach would allow the retention of the modest housing that exists in Millers Point, the properties which don’t have harbour views and the Sirius building which will allow the government to sell off the larger terrace houses,” he said.

“The minister has said that he will consider the proposal however there are no guarantees. He has also agreed to review the Social Impact Statement.”

HERITAGE HOUSE SELLS FOR $4.23 MILLION

STRUGGLE STREET IN CENTRAL SYDNEY

Mr Hazzard will now arrange a time to join Mr Greenwich on a walk-through of Millers Point to see first-hand the local community and the plight they face.

“I stressed to the minister who has been through Millers Point before that has been given the real estate agent’s tour, not the resident’s tour.  



Public housing sell off: 11 Lower Fort St, Millers Point sold for $3.95 million in September 2014. Source: Supplied

“So he has committed to joining me and the community for a walk around to see the properties we are referring to.

“The impressions of the situation after the meeting were more hopeful than before and the minister seems genuinely interested about the community’s concerns.”

A spokeswoman from Minister Hazzard’s office confirmed a walk-through of Millers Point would be arranged in the near future.

“The minister met with Alex Greenwich, Lord Mayor Clover Moore and several Millers Point residents ... to discuss their concerns,” the spokeswoman said.  



Millers Point campaigner Barney Gardner. Picture: Craig Wilson Source: News Corp Australia

“It was a positive meeting and the minister is now in the process of finding a time he and Mr Greenwich can conduct a walk-through of the precinct.”

Local resident Barney Gardner said the State Government can generate a substantial financial gain while still retaining a handful of properties for social housing.

TELL US: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PLAN?

“If these sales values are maintained, the State Government could stop the sell-off at 143 of the 293 Government-owned properties in Millers Point and still make around $340 million,” he said.

“The State Government could retain purpose built, low maintenance and low value properties for people who are elderly, frail or have a disability to age in place in their community while selling higher value heritage terraces.”  



Residents want to retain 150 of the historic Millers Point public housing terraces.

 Resourced: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/housing-minister-brad-hazzard-reviews-new-plan-to-stop-forced-eviction-of-130-millers-point-residents/story-fngr8h22-1227381401008