Below: Excerpts from public submissions to the Land and Housing Corporation development application to the City of Sydney and the Action for Public Housing response to the DA.
Public submission highlights
“It’s very traumatic leaving this property to an unknown place… Many of my neighbours that have moved are suffering greatly and they/I dread what will happen to me… I just feel terrible about future prospects. I haven’t been treated well by all involved(lahc/dcj/police) and they have compounded my already existing trauma that life has dished out.” – Carolyn Ienna, current resident of 82 Wentworth Park Road
“The current social neighbourhood will be destroyed… The current residents of 82 Wentworth Road must be respected to maintain their networks.” – Lynette and Les Carter
“The nearby State-significant renewal of Blackwattle Bay is a prime opportunity for LAHC to deliver additional public housing properties in a strategic way, without having to fracture an existing, supportive, and diverse community of public housing tenants.” – Shelter NSW
“The destruction of public housing is inhumane and I disagree with the demolition of this residence.” – Satyaji Syahin
“The design was explicitly created with recognition of the needs of tenants, and the importance of the built form to bringing together and connecting, while also providing sufficient quality private space. The proposal would replace solid, brick housing with inferior stock,” – City of Sydney Deputy Mayor Sylvie Ellsmore
“I am horrified that any government body would approve the demolition of public housing. As a local to the area I support all people to be allowed housing that is their choosing.” – Lynette Elias
“If we accept the loss of car parking, we could attach a cluster of 3 one bedroom units to the existing stair hall with a lift to produce another nine dwellings… It may be possible to achieve more than nine extra units.” – Glebe Society advice from John Gregory
“The City of Sydney should be promoting a significant increase in affordable housing at the redevelopment of the current Sydney Fish markets site.” – Owner, 84–86 Wentworth Park Road
“NSW desperately needs more public housing. New homes should be built before demolition of any existing and structurally sound public housing is considered.” – Andrea Leong
“The life span of the existing building is over 140 years, albeit with regular upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms,” – John Gregory (original architect)
“The proposed building is "cells" for the poor. The needy in this wealthy country deserve good quality public housing. The present building provides this.” – Mildred Anderson
“Social housing is not the same as affordable housing and in fact social housing is not the same as public housing as social housing is a more general term which also covers community housing I believe. Affordable housing is an even more general term and therefore implies that existing tenants may not be eligible.” – Maureen O'Keeffe
“Clearly, we need to be urgently building more public housing, not demolishing houses that already exist… I ask you to please reconsider and do what is in your power to help those who need public housing, rather than supporting big developers.” – Oliver Ray
“I live in public housing in Glebe and this is a very sad story. Demolishing perfectly good housing when there are so many in need of housing. You just have to look across the road to all those people sleeping rough! This building is not worn out. It is not old.” – Emily Valentine Bullock
“Stop demolishing good quality public housing!“ – Peter Murphy
“The way the government manages public housing stock is just plain lazy. If I owned a lot of investment properties… Why would I pull down a building that was not broken? I really wish that the Government could see an integrated picture of how all these things fit together. Don't you understand that causing social upheaval and fracturing costs you more money in health care, incarceration and financial support?” – Belinda Jones
“The DA appears to have disrespectfully totally discounted the views of the tenants and the community. Demolition would amount to vandalism of a public housing complex that was specially designed by the former Housing Commission’s Inner City Housing Team.” – Hannah Middleton
“It is against the spirit of the policies to demolish long-standing appropriately designed social housing to advance those aims. The replacement of the social housing units will displace the current residents. This is and will cause great distress to those residents.” – Alex Byrne & Sue Hearn
“I am against the proposed demolition of existing buildings as the buildings themselves are reasonably new and they only require more care and maintenance that the Department of Housing should do instead of selling it off. There are far too many homeless people and people in need of government housing not ‘social housing’ which often leads to people being evicted or moved on way too easily there is a difference in the two types of housing.” – Debra Petrovitch
“It is a tremendous waste of resources to demolish and rebuild… It hurts the families who have established themselves in these homes.” – Edward Re
“It isn't a numbers game of matching a roof to ahead. This proposal is a traumatic intervention into a community that will see a spike in poor health outcomes. I am calling for an investment in the existing infrastructure, so the residents can continue to live with dignity, safety and well-being.” – Emily Stewart
“With the dreadful ongoing crisis in the rental sector, rising house prices and rising interest rates, this is the very worst time to be losing public housing stock. This demolition is unjustified whichever way it is viewed. It is a daft idea.” – Stephen Coombs
Action for Public Housing position on the DA
Hundreds of supporters made submissions to the development application consultation based on the objections raised by A4PH.
Objection to the proposal for 82 Wentworth Park Rd:
1. Housing crisis
Sydney and NSW are currently experiencing a housing crisis, with rising rents and tightening vacancy rates making it almost impossible for low-income people to find a home. There are more than 51,000 households on the waiting list and more than 1000 in the inner city. These are people who need public housing right now; by the time the development is complete, there will be many more. And they face a wait of 5-10 years at least.
Demolishing existing public housing at 82 Wentworth Park Rd and rehousing current residents in other public homes will not shorten the waitlist; in fact, it will lengthen the wait time for applicants. The site now has several empty units which stand in stark contrast to the many unhoused people sleeping rough across the road in Wentworth Park. We need a massive increase in public housing stock and this can only be achieved by acquiring dwellings and building on public land that isn't already used for public housing -- in new developments like Blackwattle Bay.
2. Community
82 Wentworth Park houses many people, including families, some of whom have lived there for over 30 years. This plan has disrupted a tight knit community of tenants who help and rely on each other. The relocation process and uncertainty around it has caused significant disruption, anxiety and unrest. Relocated tenants will continue to face significant health and wellbeing effects due to their dislocation from their community. The tenants and wider community in Glebe have voiced their opposition with 1500 letters sent to the NSW Minister for Homes with no acknowledgement or engagement.
3. Environmental
The 82 Wentworth Park Rd complex is only 35 years old. It is well built and could be refurbished at far less cost than demolition. There is embodied carbon in the building and more carbon will be used to rebuild.
82 Wentworth Park should be retained and refurbished rather than demolished. The disruption and dislocation that this demolition and rebuild will cause will not have any meaningful impact on the housing crisis and will be a case of ‘too little too late’. Additional public housing should be built on public land in the inner city, at a scale which will address the current need for housing.
