Big win for affordable homes in Sydney amid housing crisis

A big win for affordable homes, with a Sydney court saving four old boarding houses, killing developer dreams to convert them for luxury living.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
A few weeks ago, Jeff Elliott was evicted from the
place he'd lived in for twenty one years.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
It's hard losing to friends and that, so it's very
hard to move on when there's sort of like a
family sort of England and people knew each other, so
it's hard.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Four terraces on Selwyn Street in Paddington were bought by
a developer to be turned into luxury homes. The council
knocked it back, so LFD Holmes took it to court
today a win for the community.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
To battle that we fought fought hard.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
An order to preserve the historic boarding houses with every
room needed in a city wide shortage, but in the
process thirty two tenants have already been forced to find
new homes.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Those exercises has inflicated so much pain and suffering on old,
frail members of our community if had to be relocated
in fifty miles from where they used to live.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's unlikely the result today will help that, but campaigners
say it does set a positive precedent for the future
of affordable housing across Sydney. It's understood seventeen boarding houses
have shut down in the past year, so it's a
historic day for whether we can protect future boarding houses.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
But it's a bittersweet for sure. You've got to protect
people's life, you know, you can't just kick people on
the street.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
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