Residents in the inner west suburb of Marrickville were stunned to find, on October 2, an Inner West Council (IWC) development application (DA) affixed to their block of units stating that the units was slated for demolition.
The 17 studio and one bedroom apartments, at 50-52 Warren Road, Marrickville, are relatively affordable, compared to others in the area. The DA is for a nine-storey block of 43 apartments, only eight of which are in the “affordable” range — .
According to the NSW , affordable housing rents are set “a rate that will not put tenants in housing stress (measured as paying more than 30% of their income on rent)”. It said, at a minimum, “rents must achieve a discount of at least 20% to market rent, based on the median rent for the area”.
.Warren Road resident and renter Erina Delinicolas told 91̳ that the IWC did not contact her, or other residents, about the DA. “Many of us will likely be forced out of the area,” she said as they cannot afford higher rent.
“Long-term tenants — some have lived here for 15 years — including young people, students and essential workers are paying between $380 and $540 a week.” The lists a one-bedroom apartment in Marrickville as between $500-$720 a week. One bedroom apartments in the area sell from $740,000.
The IWC’s pro-developer “Fairer Futures” plan, rammed through council by one vote on September 30, includes 31,000 private high rise apartments in rezoned areas in Ashfield, Marrickville, Dulwich Hill and Leichhardt.
The Warren Road residents’ DA notice would have originated from NSW Labor’s pro-developer (TOD) plan. However, the relatively affordable housing block of units is shaping up to be a first test in the battle against the IWC’s pro-developer plans.
The Labor-dominated IWC announced a and the Warren Road block falls within this target.
The IWC , in October last year, toyed with building 1000 public homes on council land. But the council’s “Fairer Futures” plan makes no reference to public housing, only including a paltry 2% of “affordable” housing.
Warren Road tenants addressed a meeting on October 20, organised by Greens Councillor and the 40 people there agreed to promote a protest rally on October 26, which will march to the Warren Road block of units.
Delinicolas said the government must “protect truly affordable housing”. “It is immoral to evict low-income residents in a housing crisis. We don’t want band-aid government subsidies; we want real solutions that protect low-cost rentals.”
Hall Greenland, Better Future Coalition spokesperson, told GL that he fears that evictions and demolitions, as proposed at Warren Road, “will become the pattern for the Inner West”.
“This replacement of really affordable housing by luxury dwellings will certainly be facilitated by the bogus ‘Fairer Future’ plan.
“The [Warren Road] development proposal will be judged, not by the elected councillors, but by the independent planning panel imposed by the state government. Nevertheless, council cannot shirk its responsibilities.
“So far council has only adopted stage 1 of Fairer Future; there are more private developer-friendly up-zonings to come. Council needs to be considering a major campaign to force the state and federal governments to protect, acquire and develop really affordable housing in liveable neighbourhoods.”
[The is in conjunction with on October 26 at 11am at Marrickville Town Hall.]