Raymond pays $150 a week to live in Paddington. Developers want him to leave

For the past 45 years Raymond Reading has lived in a tiny, dark, two-room unit in a rundown boarding house in the blue-chip Sydney suburb of Paddington, and he never imagined leaving.

Until, that is, he was told a consortium of developers had bought his building and the ones next door, and now plans to tear them apart and replace each with a grand luxury house.

(From left) Simon Durac, Brian Lea, Ray Reading and Stephen Deer.Credit: Nick Moir

The 75-year-old triple stroke and double heart attack survivor’s genial grin turns into a scowl. “But they’re not going to be able to get rid of me easily,” he vows. “I’ve got my stick here” – he waves his walking stick in the air – “to defend myself. They’ll have to take me out in handcuffs.”

His mates in the boarding house mutter their agreement. Simon Durac, 80, has lived here 55 years, Brian Lea, 75, for 26 years, and Stephen Deer, 69, the newbie at just 10 years. All pay between $150 and $200 a week.

“We were devastated to hear about this,” says Deer, standing with his neighbours in a line outside one of the communal front doors on Selwyn Street, like guards preparing to repel the enemy. “What are we supposed to do, where would we go? There’s no affordable housing anywhere. We’d be thrown out onto the streets, and sleeping at Central Station or under the arches.”

This row of two- and three-level boarding houses, built as cheap housing after World War I for returning soldiers and today home to 32 residents, with small rooms and shared bathrooms, lounges and kitchens, is now the site of a landmark battle in NSW over affordable housing.

Their local council, the City of Sydney, turned down the developer’s application to replace the boarding houses with four glamorous multimillion-dollar mansions. But now the unit trust LFD Developments has appealed to the Land and Environment Court of NSW, which after a number of hearings will rule on the case.

LFD Developments was contacted for comment but hasn’t replied.

This is now happening all over Sydney, with sky-high property prices enticing developers to target cheap boarding houses and affordable housing-unit blocks to raze and replace with luxury houses and apartments for cashed-up downsizers and wealthy families.

But what the developers probably didn’t anticipate in Selwyn Street was the fury they’ve ignited with their plans. While residents of boarding houses are usually some of the poorest, most vulnerable members of society, often with chronic physical and mental health conditions, and traditionally the easiest to evict, these blokes are determined to fight for their homes.

Paddington boarding house residents are backed by their neighbours in a bid to save their homes.Credit: Nick Moir

What’s more, they’ve been joined by what could be seen as the unlikeliest of allies – their neighbours in the wealthy suburb, who many might have assumed would prefer glitzy new houses to push up their own property values. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We’re a progressive, diverse community and we all look out for each other,” said neighbour Michael Mannix, 58, a management consultant who’s lived here since 2000. “Many of these residents have been living here for decades and it’s the only home they’ve known. They’re our neighbours and our friends and we’re not going to stand by and let this happen.

“We’re not NIMBYs but we’re in the middle of a housing crisis with so little affordable housing available. I think the applicants thought their plans would just go through and they didn’t anticipate the level of community opposition.”

Another neighbour, Will Mrongovius, 76, is now retired from the finance industry and has been in the area since 1976. He is equally determined, also pushing for the council to buy or co-invest in the boarding houses, prioritise their protection, and advocate for an immediate moratorium on rent increases. The median asking rent for market rate units in Paddington is $610 a week.

“These people are valuable members of our community,” Mrongovius said. “I’d go to work in the morning and we’d all say, ‘good morning’, and when I came home at night we’d have a chat about what’d been happening in the street.

“When we have such a shortage of affordable housing, and a massive social housing waitlist, it’s critical that we save these boarding houses. If this domino falls, there are a large number of other boarding houses in the area that will also be up for grabs, and their residents made homeless. Our campaign to save them now goes out to around 200 people in the community.”

It’s impossible to know exactly how many boarding houses there are in Sydney as many are unregistered, but the City of Sydney says it has 294 registered boarding houses, with 4031 rooms. In the inner west, the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, which operates the only social outreach service for boarding houses in NSW, estimates their region has about 500 boarding houses, down from a peak 10 years ago of possibly 700.

After a boarding-house fire in Newtown in 2022 killed three people, many closed, but larger numbers are now shutting their doors, including in the past six months two of the biggest boarding houses in NSW: Dulwich Hill Lodge with 75 residents, and the city’s Cosy Hotel with 45.

High property prices encourage many to be sold for redevelopment, while rocketing rents have led to others evicting residents to charge higher-priced leases to new tenants.

City of Sydney Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore says they’ve lost two-thirds of their boarding house stock in the past 10 to 15 years. “We want the laws to be strengthened to protect boarding houses and make it harder for them to be converted into big houses or luxury units,” she said. “The problem is that so many residents have nowhere else to go.”

NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said most developer applications (DAs) are determined at local level. “Our recent budget delivered a $5.1 billion investment into social and affordable housing, with half reserved for people fleeing domestic violence,” he said.

“The Minns [Labor] Government has also introduced bonuses when affordable housing is being delivered alongside market housing, and introduced minimum affordable housing requirements at the Transport Oriented Development sites.”

Meanwhile, all eyes are on 58-64 Selwyn Street, whose battle’s outcome will either encourage developers all over the state to buy boarding houses and replace them; or deter them.

One boarding house around the corner on Flinders Street had its DA turned down, but the developers are yet to decide on a court appeal. Similarly, last week another DA, for the 34-home boarding house at 351 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, to be replaced with 19 apartments, was rejected by the council. That could also end up in court.

Neighbours similarly turned out in force to protest. “Why are the residents, many of whom have lived here for decades, being forced out of their just-affordable homes?” said nearby resident Rosemary Ricketts. “It’s to make way for the very wealthy minority in a critical time when there is such a shortage of rental properties for the younger and older generations.

“There are individual lives at stake, an inner-city landscape that is being homogenised, destroying any community spirit.”

Fellow neighbour Geoffrey Hansen also objected to the council. “Those residents may not have high incomes but they are still part of our community and shouldn’t be forced to leave,” he said.

Other boarding houses and affordable units throughout the eastern suburbs and inner west are also now under threat, with the Paddington site the critical test case.

“The Selwyn Street boarding houses have become a battleground site in the fight to retain low-income housing,” said City of Sydney independent councillor Yvonne Weldon.

“We’re in the midst of a housing and rental crisis, with a severe shortage of affordable accommodation across the city. The last thing needed is for existing affordable housing to be knocked down.”

Reading, Durac, Lea and Deer couldn’t agree more. “We love this place,” said Reading. “I give the local dogs treats and we’re friendly with all our neighbours. And we have nowhere else to go.”