MP calls for mix of homes on land site
by Sarah Sharples
Published March 24, 2015
With a huge backlog of people waiting for public housing, Balmain state Greens MP Jamie Parker is concerned fewer public housing tenants will be provided for with the development of a former estate in Glebe.
The site has been vacant for nearly four years after 130 public housing tenants were moved and the buildings were demolished.
Mr Parker said the current government is planning a mixture of private apartments, affordable housing and public housing in three separate buildings.
“The 130 tenants who were evicted in 2011 are still waiting to be relocated back to the site and in the meantime, the numbers of people needing public housing has continued to grow at an alarming rate,” he said.
“The previous Cowper Street public housing estate had mostly two to three bedroom dwellings, but the new proposed public housing units are almost all one-bedrooms, with no three-bedroom ones at all.”
Mr Parker said rather than replacing public housing with private apartments the Government should commit to ensuring a mix of public and affordable housing on the publicly-owned land.
A spokesman for the Department of Family and Community Services said many of the tenants were relocated to other parts of Glebe and the inner city.
“Other tenants were relocated to other parts of Sydney and NSW according to their preferences or needs,” he said.
“The City of Sydney Council approved the concept plan for the site in 2013 which provides for a mix of social, affordable and public housing. The 134 social housing properties which were demolished are being replaced with 153 new social housing units and a further 95 affordable homes.”
The proceeds from the sale of private housing will help fund new social housing, the spokesman said.
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