Mascot Tower owners have rental subsidies extended

Distraught owners of a Sydney apartment block that is sinking and cracking said they are willing to risk their lives and move back in. Find out why.

Mascot Tower owners on the brink of devastation will have rental subsidies extended after The Daily Telegraph revealed they were willing to sign safety waivers to return to “unliveable” homes because they had nowhere else to go.

Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos revealed the subsidies would be extended late Monday night after the Telegraph sent her questions about the plight of distraught owners.

Mascot Towers residents are currently provided rental subsidies, but they will soon end. Picture: Christian Gilles

“We acknowledge the difficult circumstances the residents of Mascot Towers are facing. The NSW Government will be extending the package for a final time, allowing residents to finalise arrangements for alternative accommodation,” she said.

The owners were forced to evacuate from the troubled apartment blocks in 2019 after cracks were discovered in the building’s basement.

More than 130 families were given mere hours to pack up their lives and leave as THE cracks travelled through walls and floors across the 10-storey tower.

Almost three years later, they still have no resolution as they attempt to sell the building at land value — suffering a loss of about 80 cents on every dollar they spent.

In 2018, 3000 residents living inside or near Opal Tower in Sydney Olympic Park suffered a similar fate and were forced out of their homes after cracks were revealed in the building.

Cracks appeared on the 36-storey block’s tenth floor and residents were told to flee after fears the building would collapse.

Mascot Towers Owners Corporation chair Gary Diegan and his wife Marie bought their apartment outright in a bid to live “the Australian dream” but before the new lifeline, they were willing to sign away their right to safety.

“There is every possibility that people will be thinking about moving back in. (But) we don’t know if that’s allowed. We put all our savings into something we thought was safe,” he said.

Matthew Harris said he is willing to live in the flawed Mascot Towers. Picture: Justin Lloyd

In letters and emails seen by The Daily Telegraph, State MP Ron Hoenig, Federal MP Matt Thistlethwaite and Mascot Towers Secretary Isaac Lean wrote to Ms Petinos begging for a meeting but residents said they had been snubbed by the minister and the government.

“Mr Lean was in regular contact with the previous Minister Kevin Anderson and Mr Anderson’s staff assured Mr Lean that your staff would contact him once you settled into your portfolio,” Mr Thistlethwaite wrote on March 7.

Matthew Harris was also willing to live in the building at risk of falling apart because without the extended relief, his only alternative was to move in with his mother and relocate to Newcastle.

The 48-year-old said he is paying $4000 a quarter in strata levies in addition to mortgage repayments and cannot afford Sydney’s exorbitant rents on top of that.

“The building is not safe to live in but I‘m desperate enough, and many people are, to live in an unsafe building. I would be cautious about having my children who visit me and stay over. You never know when you’ll be kicked out or when it’ll collapse,” he said.

Mr Harris is now on mental health medication and said he will “never financially recover” from the fallout of Mascot Towers.

Before the announcement, Labor Better Regulation spokeswoman Courtney Houssos said the owners were being “dodged” by the Ms Petinos.

“Now, less than three weeks before the accommodation support will run out, they are being dodged by the Minister. The owners are increasingly desperate. The Government must extend this package urgently, and give the owners some certainty,” she said.

“We have heard heartbreaking stories of bankruptcies and of families delaying having children because of their losses already sustained.”

Originally published as Mascot Tower owners have rental subsidies extended