The NSW Government’s Land and Housing Corporation plans to sell off a vacant block of land at 600 Elizabeth St Redfern. Sign this petition to demand they retain ownership and build public housing instead.

Public housing at 600-660 Elizabeth St was demolished in 2013. After originally proposing to retain public ownership and develop a mix of social and market-rate ‘build-to-rent’ apartments, the Land and Housing Corporation has decided it will sell the site. The developer that buys it will only need to devote 30% of its apartments to community housing.

More than 1000 households are on the waiting list for public housing in inner-Sydney, according to the latest published data. Many thousands more will be added in the years to come. And if the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate goes ahead, this shortage of public housing will become even more severe because current Waterloo tenants will need to be relocated before new tenants can be housed.

Public land should not be getting sold off for private housing while thousands of people wait for public housing.

We are calling on NSW Minister for Planning and Homes, Hon. Anthony Roberts MP, and the Land and Housing Corporation to commit to retaining public ownership of 600-660 Elizabeth St and developing it as 100% public housing.

The decision to revise the redevelopment of 17-31 Cowper St Glebe, making it 100% social housing instead of mostly private housing, shows that this can be done.

We are also calling for development of 600 Elizabeth St to meet the demands of the Redfern Waterloo Aboriginal Housing Campaign: more than 10% of all housing devoted to Aboriginal households and Aboriginal employment targets for both construction and ongoing services. This is essential to address the displacement of Aboriginal people from Redfern over the past several decades due to state-sponsored gentrification.

Sign the petition below to send an email to Hon. Anthony Roberts MP and Deborah Brill, Acting Chief Executive of NSW Land and Housing Corporation.

Wondering about the difference between public, social and community housing? Read this explainer.