8 August 2014

 

The dismantling of Millers Point social housing has begun in earnest, with 6 properties advertised for sale. About 85 properties have been vacated since the announcement, with the option for tenants to compete against one another for a new home in a lottery to allocate new properties.





This week I met with Millers Point residents to update them on the City’s work to offer support through this incredibly difficult time.





We’ve opened our community facilities for support services to provide counselling, mental health and legal services, given a grant to help Millers Point residents’ groups in their campaign to save their homes, and to the Redfern Legal Centre to support tenants through advocacy and advice.



Meanwhile, Barry O’Farrell used his first private members statement since resigning to attack Alex Greenwich, the Member for Sydney, and I for standing with residents as they are kicked out of their homes.



I’ve called on successive NSW Governments to maintain and protect public housing in this historic precinct and I’ve been working with residents and Alex Greenwich MP to try to save these homes from being sold.



The City’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan for the future of our City sets targets of 7.5% affordable housing and 7.5% social housing in the City by 2030. To reach that target, we must dramatically increase the number of affordable housing dwellings and maintain all public housing in the City.


For 189 years Millers Point has been a living example of a close, socially mixed community, and in 2003 it was listed on the State Heritage Register as “a living cultural landscape”. It is vital that the NSW Government retain social housing in the inner city, particularly where there are established, supportive and well serviced communities. Instead, state governments have demolished Millers Point by neglect.



The Government argues that sales in Millers Point will fund the construction of social housing in other parts of Sydney, but no further details on where and when have been provided.



The Government hasn’t made a commitment to build new housing in the Millers Point area and surrounding suburbs, despite clear recommendations from the Social Impact Study it commissioned. It’s especially important that older residents aren’t displaced from their homes and support networks.







I will continue to call on the NSW Government to halt the proposed sale of the Millers Point social housing estate, support residents to stay in their homes, and to reinvest funds in new social housing in or near Millers Point if the sales proceed.



I met with The Hon. Gabrielle Upton MP, the Minister for Family and Community Services, to raise the community’s concerns with her directly and hopefully explore opportunities to work together to ensure the wellbeing of this unique and important community.



If you would like to show your support for the Millers Point community I encourage you to come along to the community picnic has been planned to be held at the Abraham Mott Hall and Village Green on Sunday 14 September.



You can also buy a ‘Save Millers Point’ t-shirt or badge designed by Reg Mombassa here.
This is an incredibly difficult time for the people of Millers Point and I congratulate this community on its efforts to keep calling this special part of Sydney home.



(Image top courtesy of Nic Porter)



Resourced: http://clovermoore.com.au/millers-point-update/

Millers Point Public Housing (Proof)

MILLERS POINT PUBLIC HOUSING

Page: 1

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL (K u-ring-gai) [12.12 p.m.]: The decision by State Government members about the future of public housing at Millers Point is tough, logical and equitable. It is tough because it represents fundamental reform that is designed to free up funds to deliver more public housing. It contrasts with the approach that was taken by the past government, which turned a blind eye to manifest problems with Millers Point's public housing. It is logical because an estimated $90 million to $100 million is needed to restore and maintain the Millers Point properties. It is money that could and should be better spent on expanding the number of public housing properties across New South Wales, especially given the current unmet demand. The $28 million already realised from the former Government's leasehold program involving 29 Millers Point terraces is sufficient to construct three times as many public housing dwellings elsewhere in the State. Above all, the decision is equitable.

How can anyone seriously justify providing annual subsidies as high as $44,000 to tenants in this suburb when public housing tenants in Campbelltown receive $8,000 and those in Mount Druitt, Gosford and Newcastle receive approximately $7,000 per annum? As the Minister for Community Services has said repeatedly, for every subsidised tenancy in Millers Point the Government could provide assistance to an extra three to five public housing tenants elsewhere in the State. There is a need for public housing across the State and the Government needs to address all that demand, not just those fortunate few who have access to an area and harbour views that most people can only ever dream about. It is important to remind members of the House that public housing tenants at Millers Point are to be relocated—that is, provided with housing elsewhere—not tipped into the street. The many elderly residents of Millers Point will therefore have better accessibility.

Amongst the hysteria generated by some about this decision have been claims that the heritage of the Millers Point precinct has been threatened. These claims are outrageous and false. Regrettably, they are dishonest claims that have been made by Independents who represent this area at a State and a civic level. Even those with a passing association with the properties know that, despite tens of millions of dollars in taxpayers' funds being spent on the terraces in recent decades, too many of them are in poor condition. The fact that these properties are Government-owned and subject to the Heritage Act has failed to guarantee a high standard of maintenance and conservation. Under this Government's program we know that they will be better maintained, restored and preserved. As part of the 2008 program that sold 99-year leases on 29 properties, responsibility for restoration was assigned to the new owners and bonds were required to ensure that restoration work complied with the Heritage Act. It is also obvious that those who participated in the program were passionate about preserving and maintaining properties in such an historic precinct of our city, reportedly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and, in some instances, up to $1 million on restoring those terraces. People who buy these properties will be subject to the relevant heritage laws in a way in which government never subjects itself.

It was particularly disappointing to see the National Trust of Australia join the uninformed chorus. In May the trust's president falsely claimed that the Government's decision would see terraces "demolished and redeveloped", ignoring the provisions of the State's Heritage Act and the City of Sydney's local environmental plan. As a long-time National Trust member, I cannot fathom why the organisation is willing to spread untruths and promote heritage fears where none exist. Many people believe the National Trust has lost its way in recent years and these claims confirm that belief. Not only does the Government's program offer a practical way to improve the heritage of an historic harbour-side residential precinct, but also it does so in a financially responsible way that will deliver more public housing to New South Wales. The National Trust should strongly support any effort to improve and protect heritage buildings anywhere in New South Wales. It should also be honest enough to acknowledge the financial pressures that all governments and many non-government agencies face, especially in this area of social welfare. After all, it is not unknown for the National Trust to lease its properties and presumably it does so for the same reason: to gain income to assist it to meet its wider conservation obligations.

There is the rub. This tough, logical and equitable decision will assist the Government to better meet the demands of those needing public housing across New South Wales. This program will recycle the value of these housing assets and provide more accommodation elsewhere. It will deliver better value in the way in which taxpayers' money is spent as well as offering improved heritage outcomes. In the interests of taxpayers and of all public housing tenants across this State whose needs are not being met currently—not just the fortunate few at Millers Point—this program should be supported.


http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20140805004?open&refNavID=HA8_1#

Minister’s Miserable Ploy – Divide and Conquer

Edwina Lloyd · Monday, August 4, 2014

MILLERS POINT: Pitting desperate people against each other in a contest for survival is one of the most cynical, devious and miserable ploys in politics. But that is exactly what Minister for Community Services, Gabrielle Upton, did last month.

The Minister’s office rolled out a mother with special needs children, Marissa Esposito, from the public housing waiting list, to justify the evictions of public housing tenants from the Millers Point area. It was a classic divide and conquer tactic – and a distraction from the real issues.
Instead of reporting on the state government’s failure to invest in affordable housing, the media

presented a confected debate about who was the most deserving of government support.
Without doubt, Ms Esposito and her family are in need of help and they should not be left permanently in limbo on the public housing waiting list. But here’s the rub – the sell-off of public housing in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks will not help Ms Esposito and her family one iota. To put it simply, she’s been sold a pup.

There will be no construction bonanza of new public housing properties and no reduction in the public housing waiting list. The Minister says that money from the sale of properties will go back into the social housing budget. But what she does not say is that the state government is actually selling more houses than it is building.

In fact, in 2013-14 the state government sold 1,386 properties but built only 536 new ones.
So where is all the money going?

The answer lies in the State Budget. Budget documents reveal that state government has cut funding for public housing maintenance. There is now an estimated $336 million backlog of maintenance work waiting to be done on public housing. And, as we discovered in the recent Select Committee on Social, Public and Affordable Housing, money from the sale of properties (including those in Millers Point) is now being used to make up the shortfall in maintenance funding.

Last year the Auditor General found the state government’s practice of selling public housing properties to fund recurrent maintenance costs was financially unsustainable. It does not fix the problem because, eventually, there are no more houses to sell. But, most importantly, reducing the number of public housing properties does nothing to reduce the waiting list. In fact it can only make the problem worse.

The Minister has claimed that the sale of each house in Millers Point will fund the construction of three houses in other parts of Sydney. The clear inference from these comments is that new houses will be built – but, when pressed, she is unable to say where or when.

She doesn’t have an answer because she doesn’t have a plan.

The public housing tenants at Millers Point have a lot more questions for the Minister. They have written, called, visited the Minister’s electorate office and invited her to their community. Minister Upton has refused to speak to them on every occasion – compounding the dishonesty over her government’s policies with disrespect for the people who are most affected by them.

But this is not just a matter of dishonesty and disrespect. There are important reasons why we all should care about the fate of the Millers Point community and why we need to retain affordable housing in the inner city. Without access to affordable housing, the low-wage service workers who make our city tick and the elderly residents who have given our city so much of their lives will be forced further away from their jobs, their communities and their support networks. And without them our city loses its workers, its heart and its character.

In their place will come a few wealthy home-buyers who are attracted to the idea of living in an area that was once an “authentic working class suburb” but has been tastefully renovated and turned into an exclusive enclave for the rich.

Once Millers Point is gone the state government will go after the residents in Ivanhoe, the residents in Woolloomooloo and other areas of interest to the property developers.
The real answer to addressing our affordable housing crisis is to invest in new housing stock, to ensure existing social housing is properly maintained and to retain a mix of housing that meets the diverse needs of local communities.

Edwina Lloyd is a criminal defence lawyer who has been endorsed by the ALP to run against Alex Greenwich for the state seat of Sydney in next year’s election.

Source: http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/ministers-miserable-ploy-divide-and-conquer/#.U-AE4xqKCUk

Millers Point and the United Nations

Monday, August 4, 2014

Our colleague Kim Boettcher, solicitor for The Aged-care Rights Service (TARS), has addressed the United Nations' Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (5th session), and drawn attention to the plight of tenants of social housing at Millers Point and The Rocks, and of other older persons. The text of her address follows.

Thank you Mr Chairman for giving me the floor.  I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

My name is Kim Boettcher and I am a delegate of The Aged-care Rights Service Incorporated, an independent legal centre in Sydney, Australia which specialises in advising and representing older people. We thank the Member States for their attendance and concern about the rights of older people.

The Australian delegates who are here today stand in the legacy of an Australian lawyer and politician, Dr HV Evatt, elected the President of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly that met here in New York in 1948.  He was known as ‘the Champion of the Small Nations.’

I am here representing people from one of the small nations, my older clients who are not seen and not heard in society.  It is often said that a society is judged by how it treats its disadvantaged and its minorities.  That treatment is better for recognising that basic human rights apply to all people rich and poor alike.

There is a storm brewing on the edge of Sydney Harbour, Australia, which epitomizes the problem we face with no international legal instrument for older people in place. In the shadow of the Sydney harbour bridge, the inner city known as “the Rocks” and Millers Point is being redeveloped.  A casino is being built on the old wharves by one company, residential and office blocks by another company, and surrounding properties are being sold off by government.  Over 600 public housing tenants are being forcibly displaced from an area where there has been public housing for over 100 years. Sixty per cent are older people and sixty percent are women.  These families have often lived there for generations- they worked at the wharves during times when there were no worker’s rights and they went home covered in flour and coal dust because there were no showers; they lived through a Great Depression, wars and worked hard to make my nation what it is today.  They are part of the fabric of society and a living heritage at the heart of the city.  Over the past year, they have been door knocked and interviewed by the authorities with no legal representation, no attorney, no guardian or even a support person in the room, telephoned, texted and inundated with letters about moving out. One older person was told that her home was being renovated.  She put up with the renovations for 8 months only to find she is being moved out.  As the wharves are being knocked down for the casino to be built, hoards of rats are moving up the hill and to the area where these people live.  Nothing is being done about the rats.  If repairs and maintenance need to be done, they are told “if it’s not a big repair job, we will do minor repairs.” Meanwhile down the street, millions of dollars are being spent on the empty houses being prepared for sale at large profits.  It is clear that we need infrastructure, businesses and healthy national economies but not by breaching the human rights of older people.
The residents are being asked to sign consent forms over a cup of tea and an informal chat, which would result in the handing over of all of their most personal medical, legal and family information.  They are asked to complete online surveys (which include identifying themselves) for the chance to win an IPad, which has the same evidential effect as the consent forms in disclosing private  information.  It is left to attorneys and advocates to raise the alarm. 

Breaches of the right to privacy for older people by governments, corporations and individuals, is a precursor to elder abuse.  Privacy over health and medical records, legal and financial records, physical privacy and privacy over personal information should all be part of a Convention.  This would build on Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so that there is accountability for violations against older people.

It so easy to move people on once you know all about them and you can find an excuse to put them in an aged care home, under the care of the state guardian, in a mental health facility, or simply to move them to somewhere deemed more suited to them, but which isolates from their lifelong friends and community. 

Back in Sydney, stakeholders with vested interests are courting the media, and the Australian public is being courted with a fiction that these people are dole-bludgers, or unable to care for themselves, derelict and worthless.  Public opinion has fallen for the myth that these older people have had their million dollar harbour views and it’s time to move on.  The truth is that most of them don’t even have harbour views and they have basic, modest accommodation.  They are wonderful, interesting, independent people when you bother to speak to them. One of the elderly residents told me last week that to relocate them away from their community, is “one step short of putting you up against a wall and shooting you because it’s saying you are of no value to society.  You are worthless.” 

What is occurring is the dissolution of a community.  In fact, this is an opportunity for government and industry to follow the lead of entrepreneurs such as the Yunis microcredit projects to support the housing of older people, to engage in social business.  If only they would seize such a life-changing opportunity.

Let us not forget that the most displaced peoples are in conflict zones in many countries.  Older people often suffer the most if they are frail and vulnerable and have health problems. Along with women and children, they are the first victims of physical and sexual violence, torture and often death.  Older people in conflict zones don’t usually start the journey to my country by refugee boat, or by plane. If they miraculously make the journey, they would not be allowed in, because they are too old to be a young, skilled migrant.  I respectfully request that Member States think of these forgotten people who need the protection of the proposed Convention the most.

My organisation is a Member of the Global Alliance of the Rights of Older People Australia- GAROP Australia- rightsofolderpeople.org.au.  Our alliance of leading Australian organisations advocating for and representing older people was formed as a result of last year’s working group.  We are proud to declare that our regional alliance is flourishing with the support of prominent politicians championing our cause.

Finally, I am also a Member of the International Commission of Jurists Australian Section. Today, I bring a message from the ICJ Australia to this Session:

“ICJ Australia supports the work of GAROP Australia in strengthening the rights and voices of older people in our region. ICJ Australia supports the need for an international legal instrument to protect older people’s human rights in Australia and across the globe and to allow them to live free from discrimination.”

In conclusion, a convention is inevitable, but only if we all continue to work diligently to achieve it.

My organisation supports and commends the intervention by the IFA Delegate today in calling for a Chair’s summary on the main elements of a new legal instrument. I respectfully recommend that the Chair considers documents that have been drafted such as the Chicago Declaration of July 2014, and the 2014 Declaration of Rights for Older People in Wales. To my Welsh colleagues I say congratulations- iechyd da a diolch yn fawr!

Thank you.

Resourced From http://tunswblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/millers-point-and-united-nations.html

Rats plague vulnerable elderly of Millers Point, UN told

Tim Barlass




Troubled waters: The former Sydney Ports Harbour Control Tower at Millers Point. Photo: David Porter

Hordes of rats up are "moving up the hill" as wharves are knocked down at Barangaroo and 600 public housing tenants are "forcibly displaced", a United Nations aged care conference has been told in New York.

The rats are relocating to Millers Point, where bubonic plague broke out in 1902, and residents say they are using towels to barricade their bedrooms to keep them out.

It wasn't exactly the image Australia was trying to present to the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing beamed worldwide on the UN's own television network.

Earlier in the session, First Secretary (Human Rights), Australian Mission, Tanisha Hewanpola told delegates that Australia was committed to promoting and protecting the rights of older persons.

"Nationally Australia has introduced a range of policies and other initiatives aimed at strengthening the protection of older persons," she said.

But Sydney lawyer Kim Boettcher, from the Aged-care Rights Service, didn't seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet when she stood up to address the session on Thursday afternoon.
She told delegates of "a storm brewing on the edge of Sydney Harbour which epitomises the problem we face with no international legal instrument for older people in place".

Over the past year residents had been door knocked and interviewed by the authorities with no legal representation, no attorney, no guardian or even a support person in the room, telephoned, texted and inundated with letters about moving out, Ms Boettcher said.

Forcibly displaced tenants: Millers Point community members gather to discuss the government's plan to evict them. Photo: Ella Rubeli

"As the wharves are being knocked down for the casino to be built, hordes of rats are moving up the hill and to the area where these people live.  Nothing is being done about the rats." she said.

"It is clear that we need infrastructure, businesses and healthy national economies but not by breaching the human rights of older people.

"The residents are being asked to sign consent forms over a cup of tea and an informal chat, which would result in the handing over of all of their most personal medical, legal and family information ...   It is left to attorneys and advocates to raise the alarm.

"It so easy to move people on once you know all about them and you can find an excuse to put them in an aged care home, under the care of the state guardian, in a mental health facility ... but which isolates from their lifelong friends and community.

"One of the elderly residents told me last week that to relocate them away from their community, is 'one step short of putting you up against a wall and shooting you because it’s saying you are of no value to society.  You are worthless.' ” she said.

Lawyer Edwina Lloyd, who has been selected as the ALP candidate for Sydney, has also stepped in to defend the residents.

Ms Lloyd said the UN speech meant the Baird government’s disrespectful treatment of older people was now on the international agenda and that the performance of Community Services Minister Gabrielle Upton had become a global embarrassment.

"If the sale of Millers Point residences continues, it will damage the state’s reputation as a modern, progressive and caring society that takes the rights of older people seriously," she said.

"At the very least, Minister Upton should front up and talk to the people she is displacing.  They have written to her, called her and even gone to her office, but she will not even pay the tenants the basic courtesy of speaking to them.

"The Baird government has underestimated the resilience and determination of the Millers Point community.  They don't intend on going anywhere.

"But Mike Baird can step in right now, fix the mess and the stop the sales.  He can stop pressuring tenants to leave their homes, and start supporting this beautiful but vulnerable community."

Opposition spokeswoman for housing and local government Sophie Cotsis said the government had no plans for the area or for new housing.

"Where are the proceeds going? There is no allocation in the budget," she said.

"If any of the money was to go back into the public housing system that would be in the 2014/15 budget and I can't find a reference to the proposed sale. My concern is this is just going to be a massive fire sale and the taxpayers of NSW will lose.

"Which other properties are the government going to sell around the city? Will they be selling places at Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst, Redfern and Waterloo?

"Housing will be an election issue. This government is selling off more public housing properties than they have built. They have halved the housing budget and they are not serious about building public housing if they were they would have had a proper strategic plan. The auditor general made a recommendation last year in July to the government to release a social housing policy and we are still waiting for it."

A statement from the Department of Family and Community Services said rats were a perennial problem for the inner city and that the department has not received any reports of increased rodent activity in Millers Point.

It stated the IPad offer was not linked to the Millers Point project and was part of an incentive offered to public housing tenants across NSW to take part in a customer survey about internet and smartphone usage.

Of the minister's involvement it said an independent project facilitator, Lynelle Briggs, had been appointed by the NSW Government to manage the Millers Point project.

It stated: 'All proceeds from the sales will be reinvested in the social housing system as required under the Housing Act 2001.This will be in addition to Government’s current budgeted program for new supply of social housing in 2013/14, which  includes commencing 276 new builds and forecasts completing 379 in that period.'

It said the Millers Point properties were increasingly unsuitable for public housing, with many of the older premises presenting problems for tenants with mobility issues and that they were isolated from local amenities.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rats-plague-vulnerable-elderly-of-millers-point-un-told-20140802-zzf72.html#ixzz39FNszvQn

Glebe Is Ready to Respond to Millers Point Sell-off

http://www.glebesociety.org.au/wordpress/?p=9652

Residents of Millers Point are making it abundantly clear that their continuing objections to the announcement by the former NSW Community Services Minister, Pru Goward, that ‘almost 300 public housing properties at Miller’s Point, the Rocks and Gloucester St would be sold within two years’ are seen by the public.

Even though recent changes in the composition of the NSW Government’s front bench have taken place there is still anxiety and distress amongst the community.

It may be ‘all quiet on the western front’ at present, but in the absence of a reversal of stated Government policy, those who are under threat of eviction cannot afford to relax.

Houses in Millers Point display home-made signs, as observed this week. The families concerned may well have dwelt in these properties for several generations, but for how much longer no one knows.

The Glebe community is watching these proposed developments with more than a little concern. After all, Glebe is another inner suburb where the same argument for change may be made by a cash-strapped and ineffective Department.

Let us continue to support our neighbours and remain on stand-by, just in case.

A sign in Trinity St. Millers Point showing residents’ opposition to the state government’s proposed sell-off of Dept of Housing properties in Millers Point (image: Janice Challinor)

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