O'Farrell government ignored consultants' advice on plan to sell public housing at Millers Points

Nicole Hasham,  Leesha McKenny  March 21, 2014

The O'Farrell government ignored advice from its own consultants on how to evict vulnerable tenants from Millers Point public housing with minimal damage to their health and wellbeing.

A planning expert who reviewed the study said the relocation appeared "clumsy" and "driven by people trying to get their hands on some quick cash".

But Community Services Minister Pru Goward said the government must balance the needs of Millers Point tenants against those of 57,000 families on the social housing waiting list.



The department will make "Every effort to assist tenants to find a property close to their preferred area.": Pru Goward. Photo: Wolter Peeters

The government will sell 300 public housing properties at Millers Point, The Rocks and Gloucester Street, saying maintenance costs and rent subsidies are too high and the proceeds will be reinvested into the social housing system. It is expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
A social impact assessment into selling public housing at Millers Point, commissioned by the government and carried out last year, said some proceeds should be used to build new social housing in and around the suburb, especially for older residents.
It warned relocated residents may experience "ongoing negative impacts of stress and poor health outcomes", especially the elderly, and those with mental health issues or long-term connections to the area.

More than 40 per cent of residents are aged 60 or over and some tenants have links to the suburb stretching back five generations.

The report, by Cred Community Planning, also urged the government to help provide new affordable housing for key workers in Millers Point. It noted a fall of up to 45 per cent in private low-income rental stock in the City of Sydney between 2006 and 2011.

The government rejected the recommendations, saying funds generated by the sale would be spread across the social housing system and older people would be encouraged to "build connections in their new communities". It said the development of affordable housing at Millers Point was the City of Sydney’s responsibility.

A draft of the report was finalised earlier this year but it was not released publicly until Wednesday, the day the government announced the sale.

Ms Goward said the department would make "every effort to assist tenants to find a property close to their preferred area" but would not guarantee they can stay in or near Millers Point.

University of Sydney urban planning professor Peter Phibbs said it made sense to reinvest money from the sale into the social housing, but "the implementation strikes me as clumsy".

"It seems to be driven by people trying to get their hands on some quick cash rather than thinking about things from a policy perspective," said Professor Phibbs, who peer reviewed the consultants' report.

He said moving elderly residents away from their communities and social ties was "not a very humane policy", and was inconsistent with the government's own ageing policy.

Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said the council's ability to reduce housing prices was limited without state or federal intervention.

"It is extraordinary that the state government is now claiming they don’t see addressing housing affordability as either a responsibility or a priority," she said.

Terry Tooher, 65, has lived at Millers Point for more than 40 years with her husband Colin, who has lived there since he was a child.

Ms Tooher said the couple would resist attempts to relocate them, adding "we are concerned about older friends and neighbours, where we could go and [if we can] go as a group to give each other support", she said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ofarrell-government-ignored-consultants-advice-on-plan-to-sell-public-housing-at-millers-points-20140320-355yb.html#ixzz2wlH1Dzks

Long-term public tenants to be forced out of Sydney’s heritage Rocks area

March 19, 20142:45PM

Long-term resident Barney Gardner at Sydney’s Millers Point, where public housing tenants are to be evicted and rehoused

 Long-term resident Barney Gardner at Sydney’s Millers Point, where public housing tenants are to be evicted and rehoused

MORE than 400 public housing residents will be moved from their Sydney Harbour foreshore addresses following a NSW government decision to sell off the valuable properties. 
  
The residents will be rehoused over the next two years.

Just under 300 properties in the Rocks will be sold off, with the NSW government saying the money will be ploughed into the public housing system across the state.

Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward said the cost of maintaining heritage properties and rent subsidies in the area had become too high.

“Maintenance on properties in Millers Point costs more than four times the average for public housing dwellings in NSW,” she said. “In the last two years alone, nearly $7 million has been spent maintaining this small number of properties.

“That money could have been better spent on building more social housing, or investing in the maintenance of public housing properties across the state.”

Speaking to reporters, Ms Goward said it was unfair that residents living outside the inner city received small rental subsidies while subsidies for inner city properties cost, on average, $25,000 a year.
“For some properties it’s as high as $44,000 a year,’’ she said.

“I cannot look taxpayers in NSW in the eye, I cannot look other public housing tenants in the eye and I cannot look the 57,000 people on the waiting list in they eye when we preside over such an unfair distribution of subsidies.’’
The minister did not provide det
ails on the value of the properties but said government properties last sold in the area for an average of $1.3 million each.

It was expected they would sell for more than that now, she said.

More than 40 Housing NSW staff will help residents, some of whom had been in the area for decades, come up with a moving plan.

“It will begin with a meeting with each household to discuss their housing needs,’’ Ms Goward said.
“They might like to move closer to family and friends on the central coast, they might like to go to country NSW.

“There will be options for many of them.’’

Tenants reacted angrily to the announcement.

“We are not moving one iota,’’ said Colin Tooher, whose family have lived at the same Millers Point address for six generations.

“Think about it, (NSW Premier) Barry (O’Farrell), and think about it bloody hard.

Mr Tooher said he had only learned he would be turfed out within two years after Wednesday morning’s announcement.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore was outraged by the decision to sell off the Millers Point social housing.

“Millers Point is one of Australia’s oldest communities, in the most historic place in our country,’’ she said.

“Many residents here have connections to this area going back generations.

“More than 400 people have been betrayed by the government’s decision to sell all these properties without any consultation.’’

NSW MP and member for Sydney Alex Greenwich was also angry.

“We can’t underestimate the health and mental costs, and impact on residents of today’s cruel announcement,’’ he said.

“The government has broken their promise to the people of Millers Point that they would be consulted and that a social impact statement would be released prior to any decision.’’

7News - Govt may pocket millions in sell-off

Barangaroo forcing the pensioners and disable out.

Picking on the old and poor people, its hard for them to fightback they need a voice.

You see people getting scared, terrified, forcing them from there homes with no consultation from the department. The rapidly changing economic and financial environment is a key driver
They will find a way to isolate their victim in order to get the signature. On a political stunt. For the money, with there nasty tactics.
All you need to do Barry is have a heart.

 

The Rocks precinct facing ruin as traders flounder and vacancies skyrocket

Phil Jacob State Political Reporter  



Neil Perry's Rockpool restaurant has been closed on George St. Picture: Attila Szilvasi

15 out of 95 rentals now vacant

Long-term retailers paying up to $6000 a week

‘Mismanagement has turned us into a tourist graveyard’

IT’S the birthplace of the nation but Sydney’s world-famous The Rocks precinct is on its knees — with record rental vacancies and those still trading on the brink of ruin.

GALLERY: A WALK THROUGH TIME IN THE ROCKS 
              
With 15 of 95 commercial rentals now vacant, Urban Taskforce boss Chris Johnson has launched an unprecedented tirade against The Rocks’ managing authority, saying it was a far cry from its heyday when ­retailers were lining up to get a slice.

Mr Johnson, a former state ­government Architect and Planning Department executive director, said The Rocks was at a tipping point and needed urgent attention.

The Rocks retail precinct is in trouble. Picture: Attila Szilvasi

“I’ve never seen the Rocks like this before,” Mr Johnson said. “The Rocks was the birthplace of the nation­ and now it’s a mere shadow of its former self. We have millions of tourists visit the area every year and they come to see that? It’s an appalling tourist face for the state.
”
Chris Johnson: Rocky time for retail on Sydney doorstep
Editorial: Rocks a historical dead end 
               
Long-term retailers have bemoaned paying full rents of between $4000 to $6000 a week while ­“pop-up” traders get prime shop space for no more than $200 a week.

The area is managed by the Sydney­ Harbour Foreshore Authority, set up by Planning Minister Brad Hazzard.



Newsagent Andrew Packham is feeling the pinch. Picture: Attila Szilvasi

Newsagent Andrew Packham is a second-generation retailer now considering his future thanks to what he describes as “unfair conditions”.

“It’s about time someone said something without fear of retribution from (the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority),” Mr Packham said. “They control our leases but their mismanagement over the years has turned a precinct which was bustling only a decade ago into a tourist graveyard.”

It’s an appalling tourist face for the state

Dozens of retailers have left the area in recent years, including The Sheepskin Shop — which had traded there since 1958 — Rip Curl and David Campese’s rugby shop.

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority CEO Catherine Gallagher last night vehemently defended her body’s governance of the area.

We are currently embarking on a transformation program of The Rocks which we know will ensure it stays lively and relevant,” she said.

“We get 14 million visitors a year who come to visit The Rocks and the retailers who reside here.

“There’s always a few people who make noises but what we’re all about is making sure we create ­reasons for people to come back.” Ms Gallagher also disagreed with the notion that the upcoming Barangaroo­ precinct would pose a threat to tourist figures.

Children outside the Whalers Arms hotel in The Rocks, Sydney, in an early, undated photo.

Interested parties have said the current crisis in The Rocks is the worst since the famous “green bans” of the early 1970s, when the then state government proposed redeveloping the area by demolishing a large amount of public housing ­occupied by working-class residents.

Opposition Planning spokesman Luke Foley said the latest drama surrounding The Rocks yet again highlighted Mr Hazzard’s inability to handle major issues.

“The situation is crying out for leadership from the minister,” Mr Foley said. “It’s about time someone started paying attention to The Rocks and the people who operate down there.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-rocks-precinct-facing-ruin-as-traders-flounder-and-vacancies-skyrocket/story-fni0cx12-1226843058215

Union leaders walk the Hungry Mile

By Brad Norington
June 4 2003

Martin Ferguson, John Coombs, Bob Hawke and Greg Combet at the beginning of the march down Hickson Road. Photo: Robert Pearce

In the dark days of the Depression, before such a thing as a permanent job existed on Sydney's wharves, they called it the Hungry Mile.

Workers would go from wharf to wharf in search of a job until they eventually found one - or didn't.
Hundreds walked the Hungry Mile again yesterday - but as mourners paying their respects to Tas Bull, the tough, compassionate, dry-witted former head of the Waterside Workers Federation who died last Thursday.

At the head of the procession that set off from Wharf 8, Darling Harbour, and ran most of the way down Hickson Road, was a banner carried by a wharfie and a seaman - representing the decade-old merger of two unions to form the present day Maritime Union of Australia.
And the front line boasted some of the most prominent trade union figures of the modern era.

Mr Bull's wife, Carmen, and sons Peder and Anders, were joined by ACTU bosses past and present Bob Hawke, Bill Kelty, Greg Combet, Jennie George, Martin Ferguson and the maritime union leaders John Coombs and Pat Geraghty, among others.

Behind them the city's docks lay quiet. As a mark of respect to the man who once ran a mighty union, the stevedoring companies Patrick and P&O Ports closed and gave workers the day off.
Once the procession concluded, mourners crossed the harbour in a dozen hired buses for a non-religious, but spiritual funeral service at Northern Suburbs Crematorium.

Mr Bull, whose first name, Tasnor, was a mix of his Tasmanian and Norwegian ancestry, began his working life at 14 as a seaman on British and Scandinavian ships, but then switched to the Hobart waterfront and climbed union ranks to succeed Charles Fitzgibbon in 1984 as his union's national chief.

Paddy Crumlin, who now leads the merged MUA, reminded mourners of the activism that Mr Bull packed into a very political life: campaigning for better pay and conditions, for victims of asbestos disease and for improved safety on ships.

As a committed socialist, Mr Bull was never shy about his early membership of the Communist Party and immersed himself in causes such as opposing the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.
Mr Coombs, who succeeded Mr Bull when he retired in 1992, spoke of how his comrade had so many friends - even on the employers' side "once they realised their mistakes".

Mr Combet, recruited by Mr Bull and later recommended to the ACTU, which he now heads, said his former boss was his inspiration.

"I feel about him the same as I do my own father."
Sourced: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/03/1054406193082.html

Looking for the man behind the sign

Source:http://precinctnews.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/looking-for-the-man-behind-the-sign/

By Matt Dawson  October 11, 2013

#savemillerspoint

If you have travelled across Sydney Harbour Bridge in a car, on a bus or on a train in the last 15 years, the chances are you have seen it. It is visible throughout the day and illuminated at night.


 

The sign, ‘One Way! Jesus’, is clearly visible to Harbour Bridge commuters. Its constant presence has crept into the psyche of thousands of commuters.

The city’s streetscape is littered with signs. Signs are a vital part of our lives. They direct us, educate us, persuade us, inform us, cajole us, bully us. They offer us a sense of place and routine – and sometimes even comfort. Most are official signs erected by the agencies of authority.

But “One Way! Jesus’ is a private sign. It sits in the window of No.74, a top floor apartment in the Sirius apartment building in Cumberland Street, Millers Point. The occupant proves to be as elusive as the message delivered by the sign itself.

It is my fourth visit to Sirius to meet the man behind the sign. Despite a letter, a note via a friendly neighbour, dozens of calls on the external intercom and persistent door knocking, an eerie silence emanates from No. 74.

I have strategically spread my visits across different times of the day – early morning, late morning, mid-afternoon, late afternoon — in the hope of meeting him.

My expectations of uncovering an exceptional subject to interview are low. The prospect of receiving a refusal to talk does not faze me. But being ignored, that irks me. I complimented his dedication to ‘spreading the word’ in my letter. I pointed out that his sign has been seen by hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders. Surely his Christian faith compels him to acknowledge my correspondence? Isn’t it hypocritical to promote your message to the world-at-large but eschew human contact?

Maybe I am reading too much into this. Maybe he has moved out or is sick in hospital? Is it all an elaborate hoax? Could it be that he does not exist? After all, his neighbours offer me only scant detail about him and his movements.

Monday, 10 am. A small woman wearing a yellow beanie and oversized navy sweater walks out of the building. She is carrying green calico bags. She has lived in the building since it opened in 1980, but seems only vaguely aware of the Jesus sign.

Wednesday, 3 pm. Kelly, another resident who has lived at Sirius since 1999, knows the man in No. 74.#savemillerspoint

“He is a committed Christian just trying to get his message across. So many people I meet say to me, ‘Oh, you live in that building with the Jesus sign at the top? Yes, I know the one’.” But that’s all I get from Kelly.

Thursday, 9.30 am. An elderly woman with a walking frame recalls him doing her a good deed.

Recently she left a set of keys in the mailbox downstairs and he took them up to her apartment.
Monday, 10 am. I meet a male resident who isn’t so congenial.

“That nitwit with the Jesus thing in his window? Yeah, I see him around a bit. He doesn’t say much, he’s a bit of a recluse,” he says.

Monday, 10.45 am. Finally, a breakthrough. Great-grandfather Johnny, 86, dressed in a white polo shirt tucked into brown corduroy pants, is engaged in lively conversation with a female postal worker. He is in exceptional shape for his 86 years, given that just five months ago he had open heart surgery.

Johnny knows the man in No. 74 well. He even knows his name.

In 2010, the two had a disagreement about visitor access to the prized Heritage Room, overlooking the Opera House and Circular Quay. As a result, they agreed to a mediation session at the Sydney Community Justice Centre and have now committed to treat one another with neighbourly respect.

While I now know the identity of the man in No. 74, he remains unseen and his purpose a mystery. The only insight to be gleaned is that he is learning to love thy neighbour.
#savemillerspoint

Source:http://precinctnews.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/looking-for-the-man-behind-the-sign/