Tenants' Union condemns public housing sell-off of Millers Point and The Rocks

Text of TU media release follows:

The State’s peak organisation for tenants, the Tenants’ Union of NSW, has condemned the proposed sell-off of 293 public housing properties at Millers Point and The Rocks, announced today by the O’Farrell Government.

‘This sell-off amounts to the destruction of a community. It will cause hardship and grief to the people of Millers Point, and make all of us the poorer’, said Dr Chris Martin, Senior Policy Officer for the Tenants’ Union of NSW.

‘We are concerned for the wellbeing of Millers Point tenants, especially those who are elderly and those have lived all their lives at Millers Point’, said Dr Martin. 

‘Millers Point is irreplaceable, both as inner-city social housing and as part of our State heritage’, said Dr Martin. ‘The heritage value of Millers Point is not just in its buildings, but in its historic use as public housing, and in the long family and community ties of many of the people living there. The significance of Millers Point’s public housing and its community is recognised in its State Heritage listing.’

The Tenants’ Union criticised the lack of transparency around the sell-off. ‘The Government has not released the results of the Social Impact Assessment conducted as part of its review of housing in the area’, said Dr Martin. ‘Use of proceeds from previous sales in the area has not been accounted for transparently. On its record to date, no-one can be assured that all proceeds of a sell-off will be ‘reinvested’ in social housing.’ 

The Tenants’ Union called on the O’Farrell Government to look at alternative solutions to the question of maintenance of properties at Millers Point. ‘The tenants themselves have been putting forward innovative proposals for a sustainable program of works,’ said Dr Martin. ‘The Government should talk with tenants and the not-for-profit housing sector about these solutions.’

In the meantime the Tenants’ Union encouraged people to visit Millers Point and talk to the locals. ‘You’ll find people who have worked on the harbour, and whose families have worked on the harbour, and who can tell you about a significant part of the history of Sydney. And you’ll enjoy a wonderful part of the city, that we all own’, said Dr Martin. 

[Update: the Millers Point Social Impact Assessment, and the Government's response, are now online.]