You shall not covet your neighbour's house
On March
19th 2014 the O'Farrell Government announced the proposed sale of 293 public
housing properties in Millers Point and the Rocks. Now, just over 18 months
later, Dr Robert Mowbray provides a sobering look at the impact on this unique
inner-suburban community,
and its resident tenants...
You
shall not covet your neighbour's house(Exodus 20:17) - Millers Point 18 months
down the track
Just over 18 months
ago the Hon. Prue Goward MP, then Minister for Family and Community Services, announced
the sale of all public housing in Millers Point, Dawes Point and
The Rocks, including the Sirius Building. The stated reason for the sale was
the high cost of maintenance, significant investment required to improve
existing properties to an acceptable standard and the high potential sale
values of property assets on the Sydney Harbour foreshore, with the proceeds to
be reinvested into the social housing system across NSW.
Previous articles on
this blog (check them here and here) and on the ‘Friends of Millers Point’ website (check it here)
have debunked some of the myths used to justify the sale of properties in
Millers Point. The second of these articles makes the point that there's no
plan for the sustainability of the social housing system generally: no
asset portfolio strategy, no estates strategy, despite the recommendation
by the Auditor-General.
There were 293
properties marked for sale in Millers Point. This affected 600 people and 409
tenancies. Many of
the tenants were over the age of 65 and relied upon neighbours, as well as
hospitals, doctors,
public transport and other support services close to the city. Many of the
tenants have lived all their lives in the area and have strong community
connections. Indeed, Housing NSW’s own publication Millers
Point Oral History Project: Summary Report reported on page 6:
Millers
Point … has a very integrated community who love living there and have a
sense of belonging and allegiance to the place. …
The residents have a rich reservoir of memories of living at
the Point, going, in some cases, as far back as six generations. They were
born, worked, lived and died in the houses at Millers Point. They also have
a strong sense of history and heritage. It’s a community within a community
where everyone knew each other through work and place of living [my
emphasis].
The NSW Government’s
own consultant, Cred Community Planning noted that:… 55 per cent of
Millers Point tenants have lived in the area for over 10 years, and that 12 households have lived
in the suburb for at least five generations. For many residents, the state government’s plan to
sell their homes is not only an attack on the basis of their livelihoods but an
attack on their emotional and historical links to the suburb. Cred recommended
that some of the funds from the sale of homes in and around Millers Point be
used to build new social housing properties nearby, especially for elderly
residents, adding that they may experience “ongoing negative impacts of stress
and poor health outcomes”. ... The state government dismissed this recommendation,
and said that they want elderly residents to “build connections in their new
communities” [my emphasis again].
You can read about
this here. You may also wish to check out the excellent presentation on
Millers Point by The Sydney Morning Herald, available here.
The NSW Government
gave itself two years to empty the suburb of its public housing tenants and complete
the sale of its properties. Well, these properties now are highly sought after
real estate.
Just in the last
month three properties facing Barangaroo Headland Park reached between $2.46 million
and $3.30 million at auction. You can check these sales here.
Prior to these auctions, News Corporation reported that
the NSW Government has generated $64 million in revenue from the sale of 29
properties.
Millionaire realtor
and TV personality, John McGrath, has anointed The Rocks (read ‘Millers Point’)
as one of ‘must-have addresses’ in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane. He
is quoted as saying: As a shift in the housing stock moves from Government
owned to private dwelling there is bound to be a massive upgrade to these
beautiful harbourside Georgian and Victorian homes. Plus a significant change
in local amenity that usually follows such upgrades. With the recently opened
Barangaroo Point park, a 5 minute walk to the CBD & Barangaroo commercial
precinct, this is fast becoming one of the most fashionable addresses in
Sydney.
Previously, John
McGrath was reported as saying that he is a great believer that money,
like many things, can be used for good or bad. Well, is it good or bad to covet
the houses of others? Likewise, from last year, check out Issue
2, 2014 of Lifestyle Guide which targets Sydney’s most affluent residents.
It reads: What to buy ... My tip for the most popular and affordable entry into
The Rocks is the Sirius Apartment development. ... The 79 apartments have a
retro feel and require minimal refurbishment.
In contrast, the
terraces and freestanding homes will need a much more extensive renovation and could
take up to four years of love, sweat and tears to renovate. It is a lengthy
investment of both time and money but in the end, you will own an important
part of Sydney’s history in one of the best locations in Australia. Priceless.
FACS wants to sell
the building to raise money for more social housing, just as it has with
several other Millers Point public housing properties, and said it was
preparing its own submission to the Heritage Council. An Office of Environment
and Heritage spokeswoman said: “Listing on the State Heritage Register does not
prevent the sale or transfer of a property."
Ponder ... the real
agenda at Millers Point is to free up housing stock around Barangaroo
for
gentrification and to
create a Paris Quarter ... a touch of Montmartre. Of course, this must be seen
in the context of the development of the casino being built on
the same site.
So, what has happened
to the residents?
By mid-September 2015 approximately 95 to 96 properties remained tenanted, with 130 to 135 residents still holding on. Most of the others have moved voluntarily, but for many the move was under duress. Shelter NSW’s newsletter Around The House (No. 101) documents some of these in the article 'When older people are forced to move' (see from page 18):
Once upon a time the
inner-city areas were seen as slums and we aspired to live in the suburbs.
Now this is reversed;
and former inner-city areas are being transformed into exclusive enclaves of
wealth and opportunity. In a search for new funds for public housing, the State
Government is cashing in on this gentrification in an attempt to generate
dollars. All public housing tenants in The Rocks, Millers Point and Dawes Point
at the northern eastern edge of Sydney’s CBD have been told they must leave.
The government’s
excuse is that these properties are too valuable to retain for public housing
and too expensive to repair.
As a consequence,
Myra faces eviction. She is 88 years old and blind and has lived in the Millers
Point community since 1959. Through her own determination and with the support
of those around her, she is able to lead an active and independent life. Myra
is a volunteer church and community worker and an inspiration to the people who
know her. The State Government wants to ‘relocate’ Myra away from the only
place she knows. If Myra is forced to leave, she will lose her independence.
Richard is a single
chap in his 80s. Recently he signed papers to move to Newtown because his greatest
fear was that they’d dump him in Campbelltown. He’s been in Millers Point for
over 60 years and worked in the bond stores. Richard moves slowly now and has
to stop regularly for breath. But others in Millers Point keep an eye on him.
He tells people that if I fall over in the street at Newtown, they’ll step over
me because no-one knows me … or rob me. I know if I fall over in the street
here, my friends and neighbours will look after me.
Just one week after
telling this story, Richard fell over in Kent Street. Locals rushed to his
assistance and he was carted off to hospital where friends and neighbours
visited him. The pressure and worry has become too much for Richard and he
moved just a few weeks ago.
Over recent months, social media has run stories about Myra … and also Mary Vo, Flo and other older residents of Millers Point facing eviction. Read all their stories here. On the ABC’s Open Drum the uniqueness of Millers Point is penned very poignantly by the daughter of another resident.
One local resident is
documenting the impact of forced relocation on the tenants. She writes:
“Amidst Housing NSW’s
glossy brochures and promises of better opportunities in a new home, Millers
Point residents have heard many stories that tell a different tale about what
being relocated is really like. Some were initially positive about moving, and
for others the idea was palatable as they were hoping for a house without steps
or somewhere bigger, to be closer to family or with a yard for their dog.
“But even for these
people, it seems, forced eviction has been a very negative experience. The new house
often has problems, apparent only after moving in; and some have been surprised
at what it means to be in a place where no one knows your name. For those for
whom Millers Point was very important for their well-being it seems that it has
been at best traumatic, sad and a massive change, resulting in unexpected new
stresses and loss. At worst it has resulted in tragedy.”
She goes on: “We have
seen a dramatic spike in hospitalisations, serious injury and illness and,
indeed, the process is killing people as predicted. Within weeks of the
announcement an elderly neighbour who was somewhat reclusive but functioning
well, having lived with her son in Millers Point for over 30 years, took her
life. A woman who had been battling cancer for some time and living in a house with
mould that Housing NSW never remedied was moved out of her home on the
Wednesday, went to hospital on the Friday and died on the Monday. We have lost
at least three others ...”
A film by Blue Lucine
and produced by Helen Barrow and Tom Zubrycki entitled 'Millers Point: Community
or Commodity?' was released at Parliament House on Thursday, 19 March 2015 anddocuments
the struggle of the residents. You may view a clip here.
The Millers Point
Public Housing Working Party (check here and here)
has been waging a valiantcampaign to save some of the housing stock for the
older and long term residents. The Working Party have the support of Alex
Greenwich who is their local Independent MP, many in the Australian Labor Party
and The Greens, but, also very importantly, Reverend Fred Nile, leader of the
Christian Democratic Party and a key member of the current NSW Legislative
Council.
The Working Party
organised a report by SGS Economic Planning which provides an alternative way forward
and submitted this to the NSW Government. They are asking, at the very least,
that the workers’ flats be retained as public housing. They are also supported
by the Friends of Millers Point group. Amongst its patrons
are the likes of Jack Mundey, Eva Cox and Anthony Albanese.
Inner Sydney Tenants
Advice and Advocacy Service, auspiced by Redfern Legal Centre,
with thesupport of City of Sydney, has been running a service for tenants
affected by the relocation. Since the service began in May 2014, advocates have
assisted over 160 tenants, providing advice about their rights, attending
interviews and inspections with FACS Housing, and helping to prepare correspondence
and appeals. Read more about this here.
Following the NSW
State Elections on 28 March of this year, residents had some hope that things would
change, because a new Minister for Social Housing, the Hon. Brad Hazzard MP,
was talking to the residents. Previous Ministers had
declined to take up the invitation. However, negotiations are moving very
slowly and the FACS Housing Relocation Team is still going 'full steam ahead'
in asking the remaining tenants to move out. In the meanwhile, Minister Hazzard
is reported as saying that he supports a mix of social and
affordable housing in developments of public land involving private developers.
Only time will tell if he believes that this should apply in Millers Point.
The sale of
properties in Millers Point and The Rocks remains an important topic of
discussion in the NSW Parliament. In May of this year Alex Greenwich, Member
for Sydney, submitted a series of questions to Minister Hazzard about the
welfare of tenants being relocated. You can read Mr Greenwich's questions, as
well as the brief responses the Minister provided, here.
And on the last day of August of this year, as part of the Budget Estimates
process, the Legislative Council’s Standing Committee No. 1, submitted 22
questions to Minister Hazzard.
While his answers
were far from comprehensive - referring, for instance, to the
soon-to-be-published 2014-15 FACS Annual Reports - he did report that 99 new housing
units funded through the sale of properties are underway in suburbs outside of
the City of Sydney. He also clarified that no funds from the sale of properties
at Millers Point have been ploughed back into the City of Sydney local government
area, or the nearby inner-western suburbs of Sydney.
But, overall, the 2015 Budget Estimates process has done little to assure tenants and other interested parties that the NSW Government welcomes scrutiny over its sale of public housing in Millers Point and The Rocks.
Back to our text from
Exodus 20:17. A great injustice will have been perpetuated if the remaining residents
of Millers Point, many of whom are elderly, are required to leave their homes
and Millers Point becomes an enclave of the wealthy. The NSW Government mus t
pull back from enticing others to covet their neighbour's house.
http://www.greenbans.net.au/images/allMedia/actions/YouShallNotCovetYourNeighbour.pdf
http://www.greenbans.net.au/images/allMedia/actions/YouShallNotCovetYourNeighbour.pdf
