‘No public housing where there is strong market demand’. That is the philosophy of the present short sighted state government. Community is not a word it understands.
I’ve just heard that the next victim will be Darling House in Trinity Avenue behind the old Garrison Church.. This fine old building was in disrepair when, after years of community – that word again – action, it was converted into a respite hostel for aged residents in the 1990s.
It is run by a Board of Management largely representative of the local community. The community the government is hell bent on destroying. By introducing market rentals it will kill off the service and release another property for some wealthy person to buy. This all seems so logical to the government, and so destructive of community to others. But as I said, community is not in their lexicon.
And what do the locals say? Well, they have not just buried their head in the sand and argued for the status quo. Take a look at their independently commissioned report which argues cogently for a mixed residential mix which includes some private sales, some affordable housing (the City of Sydney at present has an abysmally low amount of this) and some social housing - a community, in fact.
Click on image above to go to the report
Click on image above to go to latest Millers Point Community Press release