Friends,

I want to share an update on the progress of our campaign to stop our neighbours from being made homeless.

Our petition has been:

·        Signed by 9,500+ supporters

·        Viewed by more than 50,000 people

·        Shared more than 1,000 times

·        Promoted by ~200 of you

·        Funded by more than $2,500

On behalf of our neighbours, a huge thank you to you all.

The clock remains  ticking for Ray, Steve, Rod, Alfie, Graham, Darren, John, Rod and the rest of our neighbours. Every day is a day closer to them living on the street. Every single day is another day of uncertainty and immense stress.

Want to know about the stress? On Monday, one of our neighbours told me point blank that he will take his life if he has to leave his home of 40 years and live on the street.

He’s not being melodramatic. That’s not how he is. It’s now how he thinks. As we have seen before, this is a real world impact of developments of this type.

My friend is 70 years old. He is a good man, who lives the best life he can. He is a living, breathing person. He's not a faceless statistic. My friend is in harm’s way.

The developer – LFD Homes continues to pursue a case to overturn the DA refusal and make 30 people homeless. That is nothing short of an appalling disregard for humanity. This development, and all others like it, have to be stopped. Everyone deserves a safe and secure place to call home. Everyone.

We are working hard. There is a lot more to do to protect our neighbours, through forcing direct intervention from the City of Sydney Council. We continue to:

·        Actively engage with supportive and action-oriented Councillors – Sylvie Ellsmore, Yvonne Weldon and Linda Scott to lobby and advocate for direct action at Council.

·        Work with multiple media outlets including 9 (TV and print), the ABC (TV, digital, radio) as well as other digital channels to cover the story of our neighbours as part of the wider story  of Affordable Housing Loss and Homelessness. ABC is running the story next week.

·        Hang public posters (now 70+) in the area calling for direct intervention by Council.

·        Letterbox houses (now ~700 houses twice) rallying support.

·        Plan 2 community days – the first on 3 August to create ~30 large banners that will be hung in the area. These will contain strong messages that further spotlight the issue. The 2nd is in early planning to be a city-wide rally in late August / early September to again highlight the issue and the Council/Government’s lack of urgent and direct action. More to follow on that.

Please follow our neighbours’ story on Instagram:  #save_our_neighbours

Our neighbours are greatly strengthened knowing so many of you have their backs.

Please share this update and thank you again for your fantastic support.

Mike