Dear friends,

A short update.

The men

We are down to the last 3 men, with Ray K moving late last week to a new home in the area.

Thank you NNC and Homes NSW for your continued work in finding new places. It remains extremely challenging to find safe and affordable homes in the city for the remaining men.

We have been doing check-ins with many of the men and they are doing as well as they can be, given the circumstances. Their health remains unchanged, and they are of course lonely, with many missing their mates. We are going to arrange group catch-ups for the men in the coming weeks to get as many reconnected as want to be.

Land and Environment Court hearing

On Thursday May 8, the first day of the developer’s appeal hearing in the Land and Environment Court was held onsite near the boarding houses. The hearing is scheduled for the first three days of next week before it is adjudicated upon. Members of our community and 2 City Councillors gave oral submissions to the court about the impact of the development on the men and the community. We remain hopefully that the court will dismiss the developer’s appeal, however we will not know for some time to come.

National Photographic Portrait Prize

One small silver lining on this otherwise very dark cloud.

Sue Williams wrote a piece some months back on John P as part of her incredible series on the men and the boarding houses in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Dion Georgopoulos, the SMH photographer, shot some powerful images of John to accompany one of Sue’s pieces.

Dion submitted one of those images to the National Photographic Portrait Prize (Australia’s most prestigious photographic award), and we are delighted to share that Dion’s image of John has been shortlisted as a 2025 finalist. It will hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from August 16 – October 12, 2025. The winner will be announced on August 15.

The bio that accompanies the photo tells John’s story, the story of the men and the story of the critical shortage of safe and affordable housing for many Australians.

The exhibition will be visited by hundreds of thousands of people and will help profile the men’s story as well as that of the broader issue of housing for all Australians.

I am sure you agree that it is a tremendously powerful image.

Dion – we wish you the best of luck, and the men thank you for covering their story.

Friends, thank you for all of your support as always.

Best wishes,

Mike