GLEBE: On November 12, the residents of the 110 units in the public housing complex between Franklyn and Bay Streets in Glebe found letters in their mailboxes saying their homes would be redeveloped – meaning bulldozed and they would be relocated.
The proposed redevelopment will have around 295 private units but only up to 130 public housing dwellings. The plans include two-storey townhouses but also towers up to 14 storeys high, quite out of place in Glebe’s traditional low-rise character.
Almost immediately a campaign to SAVE OUR HOMES began to grow. Over the next three months posters appeared around Glebe and protest letters began to hit Housing Minister Pavey’s office. Slogans were painted on walls, banners appeared on balconies and posters were pasted on local poster barrels.
Local MP Jamie Parker launched the campaign at a public meeting attended by 40 people – although well over 100 had applied for the Covid-limited seats.
Hands off Glebe started contacting potential supporters and ran a successful barbecue out of which a residents committee was formed. Support came from the Unions, the Greens, the local Communist Party Branch, some Young Labor members, public housing campaigners from Erskineville and Millers Point, and the Socialist Alliance.
In Glebe – as in other Sydney suburbs – the disadvantaged, working class, elderly and sick are increasingly being pushed out. The stock of public housing is being eaten away through market sales (over the past decade Labor and Liberal governments have privatised 7,000 public housing properties in the inner-city area).
The NSW Government is bulldozing public housing and rebuilding with 70 per cent private and 30 per cent public homes, justifying this as “social mix”. However, this is spin to conceal the politically sensitive practice of displacing tenants and selling the land they lived on to developers – that is, privatising public assets for profit. In the real-world social mix is a myth. The new buildings are always separated according to whether the tenants are public or private.
Evictions claimed to be for social mix disrupt support networks and social structures. Forced relocation brings with it serious impacts on physical and mental health.
In many countries today funds are invested in public housing in support of sustainability, economic stability and social cohesion. It is time the NSW Government followed the same path.
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Denis Doherty is a residents’ group member of Hands Off Glebe.
