Building on Victories
In May 2023 the ALP won the NSW election. The new Housing Minister announced that sale of houses (5 including Sadie King’s dwelling) would be stopped and the Franklyn Street public housing estate would be saved.
Some of this must be due to the public pressure we were able to mount. Members and supporters of Hands off Glebe have campaigned for public housing with energy, initiative and persistence.
Congratulations to everyone who helped in any way.
BUT there is more to be done. We have to prevent the demolition of 82 Wentworth Park Road. Recent protests show how strongly people feel about this issue.
Above all we must reverse the situation where governments have mostly pulled out of public housing, selling more and building fewer.
Its time for the government to get more directly involved in providing public housing – as it used to in the 1940s and 1950s.
The NSW State government must fund public housing construction and maintenance. They can find the money to fund education, health, transport, museums and much more — so why not housing?
Housing is a human right. It provides safety, emotional stability, improved physical and mental health and a better chance of employment. Society benefits from stable public housing for essential workers in aged care and in other vital services where our nation pays them too little for them to afford market rents.
The victories are a wonderful achievement — but there is still very much more for us to do!


Don’t Support Build-to-Rent
The previous conservative NSW Government developed the first government initiated build-to-rent (BTR) scheme at Redfern.
The government would lease the land under a long-term lease (40 years). Investors would build the development and collect rental income over the lease period. 30 per cent of the development would be set aside for social housing, with the remaining 70 per cent to be rented at market rent.
At the end of the lease, the land and buildings would be returned to the government — just when maintenance and renovation demands would be becoming urgent.
Promoted as a “solution” to the current housing crisis, BTR will only benefit the developers who will build and then own, manage and rent out the expensive new apartments.
With these kinds of policies low-income households get pushed out into poor quality dwellings on the urban fringe while expensive BTR rentals take up new space in the inner city. BTR merely delivers more profit-motivated private market rentals.
Enhancing the market power and lobbying influence of the private sector does not serve the public interest.
The government’s solution to the housing crisis should not be to subsidise the profits of developers who want to become corporate landlords. Instead, governments should build more public housing.
Grants for housing projects
Did you know that the City of Sydney has a rolling grant fund of $10 million to support diverse and affordable housing projects?
Anyone can apply – not-for-profit and for-profit organisations. The grant could be in the form of cash or land, with generally up to $3 million considered. There is no close date. The key is that your project will deliver permanent affordable or diverse housing – and it must be in the City of Sydney LGA.
It doesn’t need to be a project to build new affordable housing. The fund is flexible enough to support buying or upgrading existing buildings. Groups can also apply for a project’s development stage.
Historically it has tended to be Community Housing Providers who have applied, but the grant could support co-operatives, groups living in boarding houses, older peoples’ housing and more. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
More details are here: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/community-support-funding/affordable-diverse-housing-fund .
Sydney Deputy Mayor Sylvie Ellsmore, Chair, Housing for All Working Group, SEllsmore@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 9246 7357.
Housing Australia Future Fund
The Albanese government’s ‘housing future fund’ is a cynical con which will do very little to help solve the housing crisis and the suffering of so many men, women and children.
It is claimed the fund will disburse $500 million a year and build 30,000 homes over five years,
However, the $10 billion is a capital sum iinvested to earn interest which can used to provide income for housing. It is not a fund which will actually be spent on housing construction.
The $500 million is the maximum the fund can legally spend from its income. There is no guarantee it will make that much money.. Last year it lost money and would have had to use part or all the profits from the next year to restore the fund.
The fund will not be indexed for inflation for the first five years. This means the purchasing power of the fund will go down. Add to that the price rises in the construction sector which have been running ahead of inflation.
Journalist Guy Rundle has accused Labor of being cheats, liars and con artists, guilty of using people’s hopes for political gain,
John Koch, Secretary of Retired CFMEU NSW, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Albanese.
WITHOUT MALICE, WE THE CFMEU RETIRED MEMBERS ARE AWARE THAT PUBLIC AFFORDABLE HOUSING RENTAL HAS DECLINED ALARMINGLY OVER THE PAST DECADE WHEN GOVERNED APPALLINGLY BY THE LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY, HOWEVER 80% OF AUSTRALIANS SURVEYED DO NOT AGREE WITH YOUR VAGUE POLICY TO PROVIDE PUBLIC & AFFORDABLE HOUSING TO THOSE WHO MOST NEED IT ESPECIALLY WHEN IT WAS REVEALED THAT 67% OF POLITICIANS HAVE INVESTED IN THREE OR MORE PROPERTIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF NEGATIVE GEARING A POLICY WHICH ECONOMISTS & A SKEPTICAL PUBLIC BELIEVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SOARING RENTS.
It has been suggested that the National Housing Future Fund has to rely on Stock Market Exchange investment whereas a profit needs to be secured before houses begin to be built leaving the homeless destitute for ‘A roof over their head now’.
This method does not seem logical to us.
The people of the mainland states & territories of Australia have trusted the Australian Labor Party to govern according to their social conscience and to do whatever it takes as soon as possible, which should be to negotiate with the crossbench to provide public & affordable housing for those in need now, rather than make it an issue at the next election while the number of homeless & destitute increases.
Prime Minister, it is difficult for us to comprehend you promising tax cuts to the wealthy and not finding a fairer solution for the homeless and destitute. You promised this during your campaign to get elected.
Prime Minister, the CFMEU Retired members request you negotiate with the crossbench to change the current policy and provide a solution that will be amicable to everybody.
FIEND IN HAND

Contributed
Bollards have been placed along Glebe Point Road to enliven the high street for cafes and pubs to extend their trade out onto the road. At the Glebe Estate end of Glebe, the pubs are allowed to trade on the footpaths and roadways until 10pm. Patrons often hang around much longer. The Friend in Hand has received much local criticism.
A recent SMH article attacked residents’ noise complaints as whingeing NIMBYs. Not everyone gets taken in by this nonsense. One resident said: “If you buy a pub near houses, don’t complain about the neighbours complaining when you start to trade on their doorsteps.”
The age of the family-owned pub is long gone.The Momento Group bought The Friend in Hand during COVID and owns The Nags Head. This multimillion-dollar chain seeks to maximise profit at the expense of communities. Momento bought the pub for the value of the 19 (valued at $600,000 each) poker machines on the premises. They have sold 10 of them.
Many regulars who previously frequented local pubs are deterred by the cost of “craft” beers. And if the pubs are dying, is it because there are too many licensed premises? There are 90 in Glebe, of which only 26 predate 2000. How many do we need?
Local government needs to balance the interests of residents, ratepayers and business. Now the scales are tipped all one way.