Artist makes housing sell-off plain for all to see

The public housing in Millers Point is as old as the families who live there, including some who have called it home for eight generations.

But their history is threatened by the Housing Department’s continued sell-off of public housing in Millers Point over the last three years. Just last November a Lower Fort Street terrace was sold for $1.5M to finance affordable housing in the inner west.

These tenants’ plights inspired Paddington artist Ruark Lewis to create five large billboard installations in three different sites in Millers Point.

One of Lewis’s installations features the word ‘HOMELESSNESS’ in large white letters on the roof of the NSW National Trust building, visible to the 140,000 motor vehicles that use the Harbour Bridge everyday.

Lewis argues that it is not only the public housing developments at stake, but the plight of the locals, who may be displaced and left homeless, as well.

“These families that go back a long time and the history of public housing is unique in Millers Point. It was set-up by the Maritime Services Board, who managed the houses for 100 years, so the workers and service people for the shipping industry could be located within walking distance of the docks.

“The old working suburbs [Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe] have changed a lot and they have mostly been gentrified. Those families that are part of the wealth of nation construction have gone somewhere else. The question is where have they gone? Do we ever ask those questions?” said Lewis.

Art historian and curator of the installations, Jo Holder, said that by selling public housing estates to private enterprise, the State Government runs the risk of turning Millers Point into a postcode accessible to one socio-economic group, while destroying the social and cultural heritage of the people who currently live there.

“If you shutdown this community then a lot of meaning of these houses goes and it…will basically become a millionaire’s toy town,” said Holder.

Lewis hopes his work will spark debate tomorrow evening when local residents, heritage experts, councillors and housing and policy officers meet to discuss alternative ways to preserve the public housing heritage in the area.

“All I can say is that’s what the grassroots can do: I just decided to go out and write it on the fronts of buildings,” said Lewis.

A roundtable discussion is being held tomorrow, 6pm at Abraham Mott Hall.