SELECT QUOTES FROM SELECT COMMITTEE
There is currently underway an inquiry into social, public and affordable housing n New South Wales conducted by the Legislative Council inquiry conducted by the Social, public and affordable housing Committee of the NSW Legislative Council. The inquiry has attracted over 200 submissions. Below are some extracts from those submissions.
“Our poor should not be unfairly exiled from the city to make room for the Wealthy..”:
The Factory Community Centre, South Sydney. Submission 43
I ask you to think carefully before allowing these people with dollar signs in their eyes to destroy the very fabric of the Public Housing system in this State. How many people will end up on the streets if this breaking down of the Public Housing systems is allowed to continue? Thisinsistence that elderly people need to live in high rise buildings with lifts is a fallacy. “Vertical Villages” did not work in the UK and will not work here either. Tenants will become isolated and scared.
Ms Marie Sillars, of the Ivanhoe Estate, Ryde. Submission 37
….When we are forced out will be nothing so I please ask of you all to let the Govt know that it isn’t a good idea to destroy or maybe this Govt thinks of it as gentle genocide (not really destroying whole communities as has been done before in other countries but just removing us to where everthat may be.
Mrs Terry Tooker, Millers Point, Submission 28.
The Community here is so important, especially if you’re older and especially if you’re on your own. The community is what you’ve got. The thought of having to move form her …it’s terrifying. It really is.
“Jill” Millers Point. Submission 243
Millers Point has a proud working class history; this should not be sacrificed to the highest bidder.
Allana Walton, Millers Point. Submission 243
I cannot imagine living anywhere else as this community has always been like an extended family. We were taught respect and to look out for and help each other.
Glenda Cox, Millers Point. Submission 243
I have witnessed many changes in the area, but the one thing that has stayed solid is the closeness, support and friendliness of this unique community.
Wendy Ford. Millers Point. Submission 243
Private home owners attract 6 times more public money than public housing gets through first home owner grants, negative hearing, capital gains tax exemptions and other tax concessions…. the way forward is massive investment in public housing.
Hands Off Glebe, Submission 51.
As a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 the Australian Government is obliged ot respect, protect and fulfil the rightto adequate housing…. The right to adequate housing … is a right to live in peace, security and dignity. … The Committee respectfully submits that the Government should be seeking to create a legally enforceable right to adequate housing.
Human Rights Committee,
The Law Society of NSW. Submission 40.
The plan for those suburbs, and my premise however is that following rebuilding and reconstitution on state housing land blocks, some 70% of the rebuilt units will be sold or disposed of in the property market to private purchases or occupied by private renters in the private rental market (non-public housing tenants). Only some 30% of current public housing premises will return as public housing dedicated premises under the guise of a new social mix.
Larry Billington, Redfern-Waterloo. Submission 166
As a resident in the west ryde/north ryde area, I am concerned for the wellbeing of the 500 people who would find themselves without accomodation if this plan is to go ahead. To kick these people out with the intent of making a profit from the new real estate is just plain wrong. Please do not allow this construction to go ahead.
Submission 185
We are very privleged to live in this country; a country where we have the ability and resources to help the poor and the needy. Let us use our advantages for all and not only for those who can “afford it.”
Submission 194
And from “Precinct News”, July 2014:
“First they came in and refurbished the units, with new carpet and flyscreens. And then they started to install lifts and intercom for safety, and I thought, ‘wow!’ It was really terrific,” she says. “And then we hear that they’re going to demolish it. It was such a shock! I just thought ‘If it’s not broken, why fix it?’ They were in good condition.”
Barbara says residents and community groups tried everything to stop the demolition. “I was the last one to leave,” she says. “They wanted me to go to a new place in Lilyfield, but I didn’t want to leave Glebe, my friends and the community.Now it’s been a big hole in the ground for three years.”
Barbara Roberts-Simson was a resident of the former Cowper Street estate for 42 years before its demolition.