| 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
|
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.
|
“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.
|
■ 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
No comments:
Post a Comment