Residents are standing up to the New South Wales government plans to demolish 749 public homes in Waterloo South, forcing tenants to relocate while it allows developers to capitalise.
To make matters worse, the government鈥檚 proposal only adds a tiny number of new units 鈥 just 98.
Meanwhile, the waiting list for housing in the inner city has grown to more than 1000.
Lorraine Byrnes, Waterloo estate resident and Action for Public Housing member, said: 鈥淚 object to the selling off of our apartments. What about the disabled and the elderly?
鈥淭he government wants to sell off all the public housing to the rich. Don鈥檛 condemn the working class who live in public housing to the outer areas. We will stop these privatisations because our community is one where we care for each other.鈥
Only 28% of new housing will be social housing. This means that the Coalition has broken its promise that social housing would make up 30% of the redevelopment.
The new homes will also be smaller than the existing public housing, only making up 26% of residential floor space.
Waterloo public housing tenants oppose the plan and are calling for it to be abandoned. They are demanding an end to the privatisation of public housing, an end to forced relocations, and a massive increase in new public housing without demolishing existing public housing.
Action for Public Housing, working with the residents, has sent this message loud and clear to the Government with the distribution of 鈥淣o Evictions鈥 and 鈥淣o Demolitions鈥 signs throughout Waterloo and Redfern.
鈥淭he government should build more public housing and buy more land to meet existing housing needs, rather than demolish and sell to satisfy developers and property investors,鈥 Karyn Brown, Waterloo estate resident, Action for Public Housing and Waterloo Public Housing Action Group member said.
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