On the weekend the Redfern School of Displacement hosted it’s first event to discuss Homelessness and Housing. The discussion included some of my favourite people I often talk housing with;
Ross Smith, Activist for universal equity of access to secure and safe housing;
Shane McGrath, who developed an interest in housing issues, and a hatred of landlords, as a squatter and tenant in the early 2000s. He now works as a tenant advocate for Housing for the Aged Action Group, the only housing organisation in Australia run by and for older people. His work, as well as his monthly rent payments, have only deepened his interest and sharpened his hatred and
Nathan Moran from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.

“News stories about living in Sydney often discuss the high price of housing in the city. With a tax system that favours investment properties over housing we are witnessing more and more people being displaced from their homes.

As state government sells of more public housing for private ownership and developers buy up more real estate, the rate of homelessness continues to rise and inner city Sydney is slowing being converted into a sea of luxury apartments in order to make Sydney a city for the rich. Tent settlements located around the city, including Belmore Park in front of Central Station and Wentworth Park of displaced people now fill the city’s cracks and spaces.

This dialogue is based on a city that is driven by development over housing and it’s effects on local communities, such as Redfern, and attempts to find tactics that could be employed to help counter displacement.”

The full program is here