Media release
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Wentworth Park evictions Martin Place all over again
The Berejiklian Government is moving on the homeless people living under the arches in Wentworth Park. It is a victory for appearance versus real action on homelessness in Sydney and smacks of a heartless Government.
“The homeless have been promised 7 day free accommodation and further month of free accommodation while a permanent home is found for them. We welcome good accommodation for all people but we suspect that this approach is just superficial ‘tidying up’,” said Denis Doherty from Hands off Glebe.
“Police are in attendance from time to time to add muscle to the evictions while a 24 hour presence of security officers is employed to keep the arches ‘clean’ of people. Investment in enforcement instead of investment in people.
“Almost within eyesight is the development where public housing land has been converted into ritzy apartments with names like West End and costing as much as $2.3 million each.
“But where is the NSW Government investment in housing for the homelessand the services they need to live successfully in new homes?
“Instead, as the waiting list for public housing goes over 60,000 the NSW Government has sold off about 4,000 public housing places in the inner city and failed to invest funds in public housing, Denis Doherty said.
“The actions of police backed up by the new laws is part of the process of preparing Wentworth Park for the new Fish Markets which will see the building of 2,760 apartments, not one of which will be for social housing.
“The time for a rethink about housing for lower social economic groups has long been with us. The solution is not the use of police but investment in social housing,” he concluded.