Sirius and Gloucester Street terraces to be sold off

There's lots to say about the sell-off of public housing housing at Millers Point – some initial things we've said in the Tenants' Union's media release, which can be found over at the Brown Couch.


Here's another thing: this announcement is the first mention of selling off properties in The Rocks – particularly the Sirius building, and the Gloucester Street terrace houses. As far as we can tell, these properties were not part of the State Government's review of social housing in and around Millers Point.

(Sirius)

(Gloucester Street)

When the review was announced at the end of 2012, local MP Alex Greenwich asked in Parliament:

1.     How many properties are being reviewed for potential sale?

2.     How many social housing properties are being reviewed for potential sale?

– to which then Minister Greg Pearce replied:

(1) to (2) Up to 208 properties are being considered. All 208 properties are social housing properties.

(See page 43 of of the 'Questions and Answers' document linked here.)

208 properties – today's announcement is for 293 properties to be sold, including the 79 units in Sirius and the six duplexed terrace houses in Gloucester Street.

So almost 50 per cent more properties are to be sold than were advised as being under review.

This is unfair to tenants in The Rocks, and to all who made submissions to the review.

 

Goward announces Millers Point, The Rocks sell-off

Family and Community Services Minister, Pru Goward, has announced that all public housing properties at Millers Point – and the public housing in the Sirius building and in Gloucester Street, The Rocks – will be sold.

The text of the Minister's media release follows. More from the Tenants' Union soon.

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Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward announced today high value public housing property assets on the Sydney Harbour foreshore will be sold with the proceeds to be reinvested into the social housing system across NSW.

293 properties in Millers Point, Gloucester Street and the Sirius building in The Rocks will be sold, due to the high cost of maintenance, significant investment required to improve properties to an acceptable standard, and high potential sale values.

"Maintenance on properties in Millers Point costs more than four times the average for public housing dwellings in NSW. In the last 2 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,” Ms Goward said.

"When the previous Government began selling off public housing in Millers Point in 2008 it let other properties here fall into disrepair. That has now left us with repair bills as high as $800,000 to restore some of these terrace houses to heritage standard.

"The community expects us to invest in a sustainable social housing system which supports disadvantaged people across the whole state. Our ability to do that is severely limited if we sink millions of dollars into a small number of properties," Ms Goward said.

“Subsidies to tenants in the last year alone reached $8.89 million, with individual tenants receiving subsidies as high as $44,000 per annum. This compares to subsidies of $8,000 per year in Campbelltown, $7,000 in Gosford, and $11,000 in Wollongong. For every subsidised tenancy in Millers Point, the Government could assist 5 tenants in Warrawong, or 3.5 tenants in Newcastle or Minto.

“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.

“A team of more than 40 Housing NSW staff is already on the ground talking to tenants. Over the next three months a specialist relocations team will work with each and every tenant individually to understand their needs and work with them through their relocation. Every tenant will be offered reasonable alternative accommodation. All reasonable costs of moving, including reconnecting utilities will be covered,” Ms Goward said.

The project will be driven by former Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs AO GAICD, and is expected to run for two years. Ms Briggs will report directly to the Secretary of the Department of Family and Community Services, Michael Coutts-Trotter.

Claymore updates

Claymore has been in the news a couple of times in the last week or so.

An artists impression of the first two stages of a Claymore renewal project. Impression: UrbanGrowth NSW

First there was this report talking about knocking down buildings in 'a bid to lure new residents'. Whilst there will be new privately sold homes, there's no mention on whether there will be any retention or even increase in public housing. The residents interviewed, and even Ms Goward, all mention the local pride and the community. Unfortunately, which can't be removed from the housing tenants who live there! It would be a shame to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We also wonder what liaison has been undertaken with the people of Claymore who have had so many changes, plans and dead ends over last number of years.

Then the Daily Telegraph published this story discussing the renewal. The story prompted a comment from local Macarthur public housing tenant, Jen Rignold.  "I am an active tenant volunteer who derives her pride from the people in our community.  Bricks and mortar are important but are not the only consideration.  How people are treated and the relationships we continue to build with each other have a far greater impact on pride.  Ask tenants what is needed and we will work with you"

Well said, Jen!

Randwick UAPs 'on hold'

We mentioned a few months ago the Urban Activation Precincts (UAPs) covering parts of Randwick/Kensington and Anzac Parade that include social housing estates.

Both those UAPs are now on hold, with NSW Planning and Infrastructure promising to return with further plans and consultation early this year. See the Herald's report for comment by various interests.

On the lookout for social housing strategies

The Auditor-General's report in July last year set out the context for much of the present interest in social housing redevelopment (we discussed the report in this post on the Brown Couch). The report also recommended Housing NSW and the NSW Land and Housing Corporation produce some policy statements on social housing strategy in this State – and recommended some dates for their production.

Keep a lookout for movement on the following recommendations:

• HNSW should, by December 2013, complete a social housing policy that aligns tenant management with emerging client need.  
• LAHC should... by December 2013, complete and release an asset portfolio strategy that delivers housing at an appropriate standard and shows how future new supply housing will align with emerging client need.  
• LAHC in consultation with HNSW by December 2013, finalise the government’s long-term strategy for managing public housing estates to deliver a sustainable reduction in disadvantage on estates. 
• HNSW and LAHC should... by June 2014, develop organisational plans that are clearly linked to their social housing policy, asset portfolio strategy and estate strategy including:

− gap analysis
− objectives
− targets
− funding
− performance measures and progress reporting.

Heritage and social housing

According to the common – and wrong – stereotype, social housing properties are boring, ugly or worse, and generally not worth keeping. On the contrary, quite a few social housing properties and social housing estates are of heritage significance.

The NSW Land and Housing Corporation's own register of heritage properties includes over 3300 entries, of which many are for properties that are also listed on the State Heritage Register, or a local council's heritage register.

 (The Strickland Building – public housing in Chippendale, listed as a local heritage item on the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012)

('The Housing Commission Houses' - public housing in South Granville, listed as a heritage item on the Parramatta Local Environmental Plan 2011)

For more information about heritage and social housing, please check out the following:

• Shelter NSW's new Shelter Brief, 'Heritage and Social Housing', which unpacks for tenants what heritage means, how heritage in New South Wales is protected, and what the implications of heritage protection are for social housing asset management.
• The Tenants' Union of NSW's blog post on the Brown Couch about the strange tale of public housing heritage tenancies and their inadvertent exemption from the Residential Tenancies Act 2010.

Millers Point tenants make their point

Millers Point tenants have made submissions to the NSW State Government as it continues to review social housing in the area.

Two groups have made submissions: the Millers Point Public Housing Tenants Committee (MPPHTC), and the Committee of Residents Elected by Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Rocks (CoRE). They take different approaches, but both are strong testaments to the local community's determination that social housing in Millers Point must be retained. We've read them, and commend them both.

The MPPHTC's submission is straightforward: keep Millers Point as social housing – and, in particular, as public housing. Amongst other things, they make an interesting point about security of tenure and expectations. Long-term tenants at Millers Point – some of them go back many decades, even generations – recall being assured that they should regard their homes as theirs for life. This assurance was given by the previous government landlord of the properties, Maritime Services, when many of the tenants or their families worked in maritime industries or other occupations in what was in some respects a government town. Tenants say they've regard that expectation of security like other people might regard superannuation: as security in their post-work lives.

The CoRE submission also recommends, in the first place, keeping Millers Point as public housing. But CoRE presents an alternative recommendation: if Housing NSW must get out of Millers Point, let tenants stay put and bring a community housing provider in. With the pro bono assistance of the consulting company Sphere, they've crunched the numbers and shown that a community housing provider, with increased rental revenues from tenants' receipt of Commonwealth Rent Assistance, and a limited program of property sales (between 35 and 66 sales over five years, depending on the scenario), could repair the remaining properties to an appropriate standard and manage them as social housing on a sustainable basis.

It is fair to say that not everyone in Millers Point is at ease with the idea of any further property sales, or a different type of social housing provider – but the fact that the CoRE tenants are prepared to do some hard thinking and look at uneasy options says a lot about their commitment to keeping social housing in Millers Point. It is an impressive proposal and deserves further investigation with collaboration from all stakeholders.