Friends,
It has been 4 weeks since my last update to you. There is a reason for that. The men have been waiting for definitive information to come from the NSW State Government and the City of Sydney on the actual closure date of the Boarding Houses. Is it February 1, or is it May 1?
With 3 days to go before February 1, the men have not been told anything. They have not been told about what is going to happen to them, and when. They are completely in the dark. It is brutal.
LFD Homes is deliberately silent. The callousness of these people. The City and State are not providing any useful information. The dysfunction of these 2 governments.
Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and Homes NSW are doing what they can with the scarce housing stock. As it stands, of the 28 men who live/d at the boarding houses:
· 2 have been found a secure public housing home to live, in the 16 weeks the services have been looking
· 9 have found private rentals in boarding houses and other low cost private housing
· 17 remain without either public or private housing options. After 16 weeks of looking.
As we have said repeatedly for the last year, there is nowhere safe for the men to go.
The NSW State Government has told me that moving the men into Temporary Accommodation (TA), such as cheap hotel rooms, is something they are now actively looking at. Last year the Minister, Rose Jackson’s office, told me that would not happen. TA = Homelessness. It’s a one-way street. Yet, that’s exactly what is happening.
If that occurs, this family of many decades together is scattered to the winds and are lost to each-other for good. In truth, the men will be living apart, in separate low-cost hotel rooms across the city. For many, many months.
After several weeks, we are still pending a reply from the City of Sydney and the State Government to the option to buy the vacant 20-room hotel at 86 Flinders Street. It is available for sale using the already committed funds. Now.
While both the City of Sydney and the NSW State Government have taken some additional measures to stop this closure, like agreeing to conditionally buy the Selwyn Street boarding houses, in truth nothing has changed for the men.
This closure, and the remaining men’s descent into insecure housing (at best), can be stopped. As we have said all along.
LFD Homes targeted the men, have applied intense pressure on the men to get them out and are happily standing by watching this travesty unfold.
In the wake of that, these 2 governments are making choices:
· A choice to be seen to be doing things, but not actually doing things.
· Choosing to point the finger at one-another instead of taking meaningful direct action to stop the closure and the men’s evictions.
· Reacting only to the media attention, choosing to prioritise these men in the social and affordable housing queues in front of even more vulnerable cohorts like domestic violence victims.
· Choosing not to answer a perfectly reasonable question from men – what is going to happen to me?
· Choosing to default to the well-worn path when vulnerable people are targeted in this way – scramble, get rid of the problem as quickly as possible, deflect, deny, duck. Move onto the next one.
· Choosing the status quo. Choosing to wring their hands instead of ringing in change.
It’s about choices. Choose to be on the right side or choose to be on the wrong side. These 2 governments have made their choices.
The remaining men have a right to stay. The men and our support services intend to invoke that right. If the Governments won’t act, the men will.
Our neighbours and our team thank you again for your fantastic support. The men now have nearly 25,000 petition supporters, and they greatly appreciate your support and generosity. You have their backs.
Please visit the petition page and take in our interviews over the last weeks. They will tell you about how the men are doing and the latest on what’s happening.
The battle is not over. More to follow in the coming days so please stay tuned.
Please share this update if you can.
Best wishes,
Mike