PRESS RELEASE : Rally to Stop Evictions. . Save Selwyn St Boarding Houses. End the Homelessness Crisis.
Saturday February 22, 10am Start at Whitlam Square, Darlinghurst - top end of Hyde Park South and march to Flinders St and Moore Park Road, Paddington.
Join housing activists, community groups and unions to end the evictions at Selwyn Street Boarding Homes, Paddington.
We are in a housing crisis unprecedented in modern times, yet amidst this, older men are being evicted from four boarding houses in Selwyn St, Paddington.
Homelessness Australia released figures today of 120,000 people homeless across the country, services being overwhelmed and the situation is getting worse.
The NSW state government has a chance to save Selwyn Street boarding houses through buying the properties. Elderly, working class men risk eviction from their boarding homes on Monday March 3, 2025.
A developer, LFD Developments, bought the four boarding house terraces in Selwyn Street, Paddington, in 2023. They aim to evict all the tenants, and build four luxury villas in their stead.
Housing Minister Rose Jackson and the local council pledged to buy terraces, but the developer is not selling. The eviction date is imminent, so we must act now to stop them.
This month, in Spain, Barcelona, the local Council declared it will buy an apartment building “Casa Orsola” to prevent the eviction of tenants living within it to end the eviction worries of the tenants. The issue has become nationally important, with a 49 year old teacher, threatened with eviction, becoming a symbol of Spain’s housing desperate crisis.
In Sydney, Council Mayor Clover Moore also pledged to assist in buying the houses, alongside the NSW state government. Nothing has materialised and LFD Homes, Homes NSW and others are evicting the tenants.
We demand:
No evictions of tenants from Selwyn St, Paddington Boarding Homes!
Rose Jackson and the Minns government need to forcibly acquire the Boarding Homes!
Deliver Boarding House residents more rights!
Deliver more quality public housing to end the housing crisis!
Organised by Action for Public Housing NSW. Supported by: Selwyn Street Boarding House tenant, Community Dignity Respect, MUA Sydney branch, Pyrmont Action Inc, Community Union Defense League, Socialist Alliance NSW, Australia Communist Party, Purple Pinger (Jordan van den Lamb), Older Women's Network (OWN), Young Spirit Mentoring, Housing Matters Bass Coast
Start at Whitlam Square, Darlinghurst - top end of Hyde Park South and march to Flinders St and Moore Park Road, Paddington.
Contact Rachel 0403 517 266 for details
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1584266228910171/