First sales at Millers Point

This post was first published on Thursday August 21st, after the first Millers Point property was auctioned off by the NSW Government. It will be updated from time to time as subsequent properties are sold.

Last night the NSW State Government made the first sale in its sell-off of social housing at Millers Point.

The sale price – $1.9 million – was well above the price guide given in the marketing campaign ($1 million, subsequently revised to above $1.3 million). This may encourage the Government. Really, it should encourage the Government to consider again the alternative proposal put by the residents' group, CoRE.

This alternative would see a few dozen properties sold, with the proceeds used to properly renovate the rest, then transfer their management to community housing. The lower maintenance costs for renovated properties, plus the additional Commonwealth Rent Assistance revenue, would put social housing in Millers Point on a sustainable basis.

To the extent that the results of one auction can be relied on, it strengthens CoRE's 'best case' scenario for a limited program of 35 sales of already vacant properties.

Wednesday 27th August: a second Millers Point property was sold at auction last night, for the price of $2.56million. This is more or less $1million above the suggested price guide. Residents staged a protest outside the auctioning real estate agents' office. The sale and protest have been reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.

'Renewal' Projects - new research on their impact

Shelter NSW has just released a new Shelter Brief on the issues for tenants in public housing 'renewal' projects.

 

The redevelopment or “renewal” of public housing estates has been a growing feature of the Australian social housing landscape. New South Wales is no exception to this pattern, with a number of renewal projects either under way or on the drawing board.

These renewal projects have a substantial impact on public housing tenants, and on their communities. But all too often, tenants’ needs have not been “front and centre” in planning for renewal.

This paper attempts to bring together a substantial proportion of the Australian research relating to the impact of renewal projects on tenants.

Macquarie Park and Ivanhoe estate factsheet

The Department of Planning and Environment has been taking submissions on the Urban Activation Precinct at Herring Road, Macquarie Park, which includes the Ivanhoe estate. We'll follow up on those in a future post.

For the record, here's a factsheet from the Government's Macquarie Park Taskforce, which makes a few commitments in relation to the Ivanhoe estate.

It states:

• If the Ivanhoe estate is redeveloped, the same number of social housing homes will be built. There will be no loss of social housing in the area.
• If the estate is redeveloped, existing social housing residents will be relocated to new or vacant social housing that is suited to their needs.
• Where tenants are relocated out of the estate to allow redevelopment to take place, they will have the option of moving back to the estate provided that a new dwelling is available that is also suited to their needs.