Paddington Community Rally Around At-Risk Boarding House Tenants

Community groups, housing activists and unions are rallying around the tenants of a Paddington boarding house who are at risk of homelessness in just over a month.

More than twenty boarding house tenants at 58-64 Selwyn Street are resisting eviction and the dissolution of their community at the hands of property developer, LFD Developments, who specialise in “boutique high-end residential and commercial projects”.

Residents were told before Christmas to vacate their homes by February 1, but a last minute decision by developers gave some residents an extra month before eviction. They now have until Monday March 3 until they’ll be forced to leave.

The City of Sydney Council has declined two of LFD’s development applications, and local councillors are pushing for the City to buy the properties, with NSW Labor agreeing to partially fund and restore the boarding houses if they do. However, LFD would have to agree to part with the properties. The matter is scheduled to be heard by the Land and Environment Court in May.

Residents have nowhere else to go

The four terraces on Selwyn Street were bought by LFD in 2023, who intend to demolish the existing structures and build four luxury villas in its place. The current residents, many of whom are elderly and have lived there for decades, pay $150-$200 in rent per week. With houses in Paddington being sold for millions of dollars, residents are being forced to leave the community they know and love in order to find housing.

Of the 32 residents, 17 have been unable to find secure housing, despite searching for more than 16 weeks.

“Poorer, vulnerable older people and low paid workers and families are being priced out of housing and communities,” said Andrew Chuter, spokesperson for Action for Public Housing.

“The campaign to save Selwyn Street is emblematic of what we need the government to do to solve the housing crisis. They need to take a leaf out of former ALP Minister Tom Uren’s handbook and buy private housing in the 1970s, like they did in Glebe, Woolloomooloo and Redfern, and reinvest in beautiful public housing.”

The local community are rallying around the residents, and have organised letterboxing, barbecues, and had MPs meet with the tenants. On Friday evening, they’ll take to the streets to demand action from the government.