Darling St residents ropeable over eviction
Image: Darling St in Balmain
Despite having a development application (DA) on their land rejected by Leichhardt Council, residents at 428 Darling St in Balmain are expected to be evicted without replacement accommodation.
Developer Harry Awad engaged in correspondence with Council regarding the DA last year, detailing that if the DA was accepted then residents would be given five months notice of eviction.
In the event of eviction, there would also be an agreement with the real estate company to help residents find alternative accommodation.
But resident Colin Robinson said the plans had been scrapped since the DA was rejected.
“Since then, these two points – five months notice and help finding somewhere else to live – seem to have been forgotten both by the developer and also by the Council people who have been negotiating with the developer under the umbrella of the Land and Environment Court,” he said.
Greg Firth, another resident at 428 Darling St, said the worst implication of the eviction would be a lack of housing for his neighbours with a disability.
“I’ve got a neighbour who is deaf and in her ‘80s. What is she going to do when we are evicted?” he said.
Council is currently in negotiation with the developer in an effort to find ways to help out affected residents.
“It’s situations like this that make Council so determined to negotiate other affordable and social housing initiatives, like the partnership with UnitingCare Ageing that will allow the redevelopment of Annesley House and Harold Hawkins Court,” said Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne.
“We want to make sure that residents, like those affected by the redevelopment at 428 Darling St, can continue to live in their community.”
Greens Councillor Daniel Kogoy said Council should be more transparent about this process, but that it could only do so much.
“Council needed to do a better job keeping residents impacted by the court’s deliberations informed and engaged in the process in an open and transparent manner,” he said.
Labor Councillor Simon Emsley said Council was taking all possible means to help residents.
“The current Council is strongly committed to doing everything in its power to address this situation,” he said.
“Council has no history or capacity to address the needs of tenants of Leichhardt facing eviction other than through referral.”
