600 Elizabeth St, Redfern: Jenny Leong MP, campaign groups call for 100 per cent public housing

Political figures and community campaigners have rallied against plans to sell public land, calling for the inner city site to be used to help meet the growing demand for public housing.

Calls for a state government rethink around the sale of a Redfern-based plot of public land have gained volume and pace, with campaigners pleading for changes to the plans with increasing intensity.

600 Elizabeth St – adjacent to the home of South Sydney Rabbitohs, Redfern Oval – is earmarked for sale by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) but campaign groups and local political figures want the land to be retained or, at the very least, a promise the future of the site will include 100 per cent public housing.

“The basic premise is that housing is a basic human right and everybody deserves a right to a safe and secure place to call home,” Newtown Greens MP Jenny Leong said.

“We need to take the profit out of housing, that is the only solution to solving the housing crisis.

“We need to recognise that the state government has only one interest and that interest is clear: they are selling off public land so they can make more money.”

Newtown Greens MP Jenny Leong speaks out against the sale of 600 Elizabeth St. Picture: Alexi Demetriadi

An outline of the site up for sale and redevelopment.

Ms Leong spoke at a weekend rally outside 600 Elizabeth St and said the fact the plot was fenced off and dormant was symbolic of the state government’s attitude to public land.

“Even the fact they’ve put up a fence up shows you the arrogance of the state government’s attitude towards public housing,” she said.

The LAHC is seeking a development partner for more than 300 new homes at the site, a minimum of 30 per cent of which will be social housing.

However, with more than 1000 applicants currently on the waiting list for public housing in the inner city – one applicant could be a family, so the actual number waiting is likely more – campaign groups say the proposal doesn’t go far enough.

Groups converged outside 600 Elizabeth St to protest against the sale of public land at the spot. Picture: Alexi Demetriadi

“There’s over 1000 households on the waiting list for public housing allocations,” Alistair Sisson, a housing and urban development researcher at the University of Wollongong, said.

“This is a large and valuable piece of public land that shouldn’t be getting sold off in the first place, and certainly shouldn’t be getting sold off for only 30 per cent public housing, which isn’t anywhere near enough.”

Campaign groups have cited the redevelopment at Cowper St, Glebe — which changed from a mixed-tenure to 100 per cent social homes — as a preferable scenario for 600 Elizabeth St.

A concept design of what redevelopment on the site could end up looking like.

Mr Sisson – as part of the Action for Public Housing group – helped to organise a rally outside 600 Elizabeth St over the weekend.

“The LAHC is forced to be self-funded,” Mr Sisson said.

“They don’t get any funding from the state or federal governments really, so they have to sell off existing land in order to fund the construction and the maintenance of new housing.”

Public housing at 600 Elizabeth St was demolished back in 2013 and previously the LAHC proposed retaining public ownership of the land and developing a mix of social and market-rate ‘build-to-rent’ apartments.

However, the LAHC backflipped and instead decided to put the land up for sale. Campaigners now want to see another backflip.

John Engeler of Shelter NSW calls for more inner city public housing at 600 Elizabeth St. Picture: Alexi Demetriadi

“A good government can get things wrong,” Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler said.

“In fact, a great government not only does things wrong but realises when they’ve gotten things wrong, admits it, turns it around, and makes the right decision.

“It’s not too late for this government to realise they’ve got 600 Elizabeth St very wrong.”

The LAHC said the current plans for the site will create a “mixed-tenure community” and deliver “better housing for the inner city”.

“The redevelopment will deliver more than 300 new dwellings, with at least 30% of the final project yield reserved for social and affordable housing properties,” a spokesman said.

“This is much more than the 18 social housing dwellings that originally existed at the site before demolition in 2013. The site is also part of the surrounding Redfern Estate, which already includes around 1,600 existing social housing properties.

“The mixed tenure outcome to be achieved at this site better balances the need for more social housing in the inner city, while limiting the impact of further concentration of social housing in the local area.”