Join residents and Action for Public Housing in opposing the proposal to demolish and redevelop the public housing site at Explorer St Eveleigh. Take one minute to make a submission by adding your name, email and and postcode before December 2nd.

The fundamental problem with this proposal is that the NSW Government is trying to increase the supply of public housing by privatising the very land on which it sits. Housing Minister Rose Jackson admitted this problem at Budget Estimates on 1st November 2023 when she described it as “a snake eating itself”.

While the Explorer St proposal will eventually increase social housing, it will see 70% of the development privatized and therefore lost to the public housing system. The proposal is therefore in clear breach of NSW Labor’s election promises and party policy as voted by delegates at the 2022 NSW Labor Party Conference. In addition to privatising 70% of the site, the proposal will see public housing transferred to community housing without consulting residents to understand their preferences.

The current housing at Explorer St provides family dwellings which will be replaced by one- and two-bedroom units unsuitable for many current residents. There is a significant shortfall of larger homes on the public housing wait list - with a minimum 10 year wait for local applicants who need more than one bedroom - and any demolition will take such homes out of the system for good.

The residents of Explorer St have been a valued part of the Alexandria-Erskineville community and have contributed greatly to it for the last 31 years. They were guaranteed long term tenancy when they moved in and are being treated very poorly in this proposal. Some have already experienced forced relocation from Millers Point. They have been offered no opportunities to provide meaningful input until now.

The Social Infrastructure and Impact Assessment makes it clear that residents are opposed to the proposal. Despite the promise of a right of return, they are unlikely to do so because the new housing will not suit their needs. Already the project has taken a severe toll on their health and wellbeing, and this will only deepen if redevelopment proceeds.

There are currently more than 57,000 applicants on the waiting list throughout NSW and more than 1,500 in Explorer St’s allocation zone. More public homes are needed. But forced relocations for redevelopment will further delay access to public housing for these applicants, most of whom face a waiting period of at least five years. Rather than demolish 46 homes that are only 31 years old, the urgent priority must be to build new public housing on vacant land. Local examples of this include North Eveleigh and 600 Elizabeth St, Redfern, which are already publicly owned.

The NSW Government should also buy local brownfield sites and develop these as public housing. Funding should also be allocated to the proper repair, maintenance and refurbishment of existing public housing. Redevelopment of existing estates should only be considered once the waiting list and wait times have been significantly reduced, based on dwelling qualities and residents’ needs.