Sydney’s Paddington Boarding House Residents In Tears After Being Told They’re Being Evicted
Image: Selwyn Street boarding houses. Image: Supplied
Around 29 residents of four boarding houses in Paddington, Sydney received news this week that they were being evicted after the owner-developer of the properties had decided to close them down by the end of the year.
The owner-developer LFD Developments intends to turn the 32 boarding houses into four luxury homes. The plan was shot down by the City of Sydney and the owner has appealed the decision before the Land and Environment Court (LEC), where it is pending.
However, without waiting for the outcome of the appeal, the owner is reportedly planning to close down the boarding houses, saying they were not financially viable. The 29 male residents – some have been living here for decades – broke down in tears when they heard the news at a meeting, earlier this week, reported Nine Newspapers. The residents are currently paying between $150-200 weekly as rent.
‘Residents Of Boarding Houses Should Be Protected’
The owner’s decision has come in for criticism. “Boarding houses are one form of affordable housing in Sydney – a city where housing, particularly in Inner Sydney, is unaffordable for so many people,” Redfern Legal Centre said in a post on Facebook. “Residents of Boarding Houses should be protected by better planning policies that cannot easily be circumnavigated by developers.”
Sydney has around 4,000 boarding houses, but those numbers were shrinking, with developers converting them into luxury homes, according to Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
“Sydney should not simply be an enclave for the rich. And we need more homes – not less,” Moore posted on Facebook in July.
“We’re in a housing affordability crisis, and governments must preserve and deliver affordable and diverse housing – including boarding houses.”
Moore had then urged the NSW Government to accept the recommendations from the statutory review of the Boarding Houses Act. “Boarding Houses are a crucial part of our housing mix and the State Government needs to take net dwelling loss seriously,” Moore said. The Lord Mayor said that the government should “consider the significant loss of individual homes as grounds for rejecting development applications; provide funding to boarding house owners to bring units up to standard, and support displaced residents to find alternative housing.”
Federal member for Wentworth Allegra Spender had supported the push to protect boarding houses. “Boarding houses, studios, and one-bedroom flats are a critical part of the housing mix our community needs. We have to preserve them. Especially in high-density areas like Paddington, Elizabeth Bay, and Potts Points,” Spender said in a social media post in August.
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