RALLY: Save Waterloo, save public housing. No sell offs. No evictions.
Media Release April 11, 2025
Media Release April 11, 2025
RALLY: Save Waterloo, save public housing. No sell offs. No evictions.
The Chris Minns ALP state government is declaring war on public housing communities and people living in homelessness.
In February in Waterloo, 150 eviction letters were delivered to residents near McEvoy St as part of a plan to sell off the whole suburb to developers. Governments have been threatening it for ten years - but now 150 residents have been given six months to leave.
In March, Homes NSW door-knocked 45 residents in the Mascot, Botany Road and Coward Street, Mascot and told them their homes would be demolished and they would be evicted by the end of the year.
Residents in Glebe, South Eveleigh, Kingsford and Maroubra public housing estates have been notified they will be evicted.
Plus, the ALP Minns government is currently demolishing homes they bought after the horrific climate-collapse induced floods in the Northern Rivers, and threatening people in the NSW Supreme Court who are squatting them with eviction.
Quotes attributable to
Karyn Brown, Waterloo resident and Action for Public Housing campaigner
“Waterloo residents were informed on Thursday 10th April that a contract with Stockland consortium developer has been signed, and we are told we will receive a public or social home somewhere nearby, but this just forces up the waiting list, as public housing tenants whose homes are being demolished receive homes that should be offered to someone else on the list. In a housing crisis, where 64,000 applicants in NSW languish on the waiting list, evicting and demolishing housing is criminal. To solve the housing crisis we should not demolish, we want the government to refurbish, reinvest.”
Peter Ross, an Action for Public Housing home owner spokesperson
“The government's actions in the lead up to a federal election in the housing sector is nothing short of criminal. 120,000 people are without stable housing every night, 300 people are turned away from them every day and services are at breaking point. Anthony Albanese buys a $4.3 million property investment on the Central Coast, while the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million homes with 30,000 public-social homes within it, is way behind target. We need a mass injection of funds into public housing with governments reinvesting in and building new homes. Half of Glebe was bought by the then government in the 1970s, we need this kind of bold actions to end the crisis.
Andrew George, Lismore resident, buyback houses occupier Pine St, Lismore homes said,
“The government is destroying perfectly relocatable homes in Baillie Street, Lismore and surrounds. This shows the government can’t handle the housing crisis, but they also can’t respond to the climate crisis. They can’t respond to compounding crises. They need to listen to the community but equally, we have to develop robust communities to deal with these crisis ourselves as the government shows itself incapable.”
Karyn Brown said
“We can win. People’s power has worked so far in delaying demolition in Waterloo since 2015. We saved the Franklyn Street Glebe estate with a powerful campaign and staved off demolition at 82 Wentworth Park Road Glebe housing estate. Recently in Barcelona, residents threatened with eviction, resisted, gained national attention and won the right to stay in their homes.”
SPEAKERS: Andrew Collis (former Uniting Church minister Waterloo), Jenny Leong (Greens NSW housing spokesperson), Denis Doherty (Hands Off Glebe), Miki Flynn-Chels Hood Withey (House You/Northern Rivers housing campaign), Cherish Kuehlmann (Get A Room) Rachel Evans (Socialist Alliance, housing activist)
RALLY: 1pm at Redfern Community Centre, 29 Hugo St, Redfern.
FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1148208447091875
Contact Karyn Brown 0432 409 711 Peter Ross 0468 861 297 Rachel 0403 517 266 Andrew George 0402 725 025