Future still unclear for public housing tenants

BY FERGUS GRIEVE
Tenants of a public housing estate in Glebe are none the wiser about their future after a meeting at the Glebe Youth Service last Thursday.
Elger Street resident, Joe Cody, said he was happy with how the meeting went but still doesn’t know what is going to happen with his home.
“No one’s come out and said anything,” said Mr Cody at the conclusion of what Lord Mayor Clover Moore says will be the first in a series of regular meetings between Glebe’s public housing tenants and official agencies.
Competing with the noise of heavy machinery at work on the Glebe Point Road upgrade, representatives of Housing NSW, the Police and the City of Sydney Council addressed the meeting and responded to questions and concerns raised by those in attendance.
John Becker of Housing NSW reiterated details of the proposed affordable housing development in Glebe first publicised in April this year. Mr Becker told the meeting that the project could not proceed until its financial viability had been confirmed.
The proposed development ‘ a joint venture between the City of Sydney and the NSW state government ‘ incorporates a mix of public housing, affordable housing for workers providing essential services, such as police, healthcare workers and teachers, and private market housing. The project will encompass two sites ‘ one owned by the city, the other by Housing NSW.
Mr Becker said that a project control group consisting of senior staff from the council and Housing NSW hoped to finalise its financial feasibility study before Christmas.
He indicated that the project is likely to be funded by a mix of financial and in-kind contributions from the state government and the council, along with federal government grants and proceeds from the sale of the new private homes on the site.
In anticipation of the project getting the go-ahead, Housing NSW staff are continuing to discuss relocation options with those public housing residents whose homes stand to be demolished.
When asked if the global financial downturn had affected confidence in the prospects of the project proceeding, Lord Mayor Moore told the gathering that she would be able to say more on that subject at the next meeting.
“This is a difficult time,” she said, “but there is still a need to provide housing. The exciting thing about this project is that we think it could be a model for other areas, a model where you have federal, state and local governments working together. I’m really very hopeful that it will proceed but we are in uncertain financial times.”
According to Housing NSW, if the project were to get the green light in December Joe Cody and his fellow residents can expect another 12 to 18 months to pass before designs are finalised and construction begins.