New patron of Friends of Millers Point: Jack Mundey

Reproduced from the Friends of Millers Point news page:

Jack Mundey becomes Patron

 

Legendary Green Bans Campaigner Jack Mundey has been named Patron of the Friends of Millers Point ahead of this week’s Save Public Housing Rally at NSW Parliament House.

“The community has again turned to Jack Mundey for support, and we are delighted to announce that Jack Mundey has agreed to be the Patron of the Friends of Millers Point,” said Kelli Haynes, Convenor of the Friends of Millers Point.

“We certainly once again need people across the community to rally behind Jack and the Friends of Millers Point to save the people and the heritage of The Rocks, Millers Point and Dawes Point.

“Not only are the residents at risk, but also the purpose-built worker and social housing constructed in this area throughout the 20th century,” Ms Haynes said.

“We believe most of the workers’ accommodation will be lost, including the terraces of Windmill Street, the flats of High Street and most disturbingly, the Sirius Apartments which were built as a direct result of the Green Bans.

“The Rocks Green Ban was only lifted in order to allow the building of the Sirius Apartments, which now stand as a monument to the power of workers and residents to join together and shape the environment in which they live.

“The State Government needs to come up with a better plan for public housing than turfing vulnerable people out of an area many have lived in throughout their lives.”

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For more about Friends of Millers Point, visit their website and sign up for their newsletter. Other tenant groups: check out Friends of Millers Point for ideas about getting your local community informed and organised.

New overseer for Millers Point and The Rocks sell-off

Minister Upton has announced that Dr Owen Donald has been appointed the role of 'Millers Point Independent Facilitator', replacing Lynelle Briggs.

Dr Donald has a lot of experience in housing policy. We hope he'll see that there are better alternatives to the present program – alternatives that keep elderly and long-term tenants housed, that don't destroy a whole community, and that don't pose the same threat to our heritage.

Urban Activation Precincts explained

Just a quick note: our colleagues at Shelter NSW have produced a handy paper on Urban Activation Precincts.

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.

Six Millers Point properties to go on the market

The NSW State Ministers for Family and Community Services and for Finance announced in the weekend media that six social housing premises at Millers Point will go on the market shortly.

The properties are identified, oddly enough, in the UK-based Daily Mail (graphic below).

In making the announcement, Minister Upton said:

'For every house sold in Millers Point, you could build three houses in many other suburbs in Sydney.'

This gives the impression that for every house sold, three will be built – for a net gain of two houses per sale. However, the NSW State Government has not committed to any such increase in the stock of social housing. In a briefing on the State Budget, the FACS Secretary stated that whether there would be any net increase in social housing would be 'line ball'.

On the sales process, Finance Minister Perrottet said:

The properties in Millers Point are of important historical significance for the people of New South Wales and we don’t want to rush the planning or sales processes....

We want to maintain as much of the culture and aesthetics of the Millers Point precinct as we can, and it will be incumbent on prospective buyers to preserve and respect the history of the area.

'We don't want to rush'? The NSW State Government proposes to sell 214 State-heritage listed properties in 18 months. We think something has got to give.