A well-off Sydney family has agreed to lease a historic Millers Point residence formerly used as public housing for 99 years at a cost of $1.9 million.
The Sydney Morning Herald
In a deal that could herald the future of public housing in New South Wales, the family will pay what the property is worth and in return won’t have to go through the rigmarole of bullshitting about their income.
Like many of the housing units available to the destitute, the century-old, four-storey Fort Street property boasts harbour views. Unlike the others, it is priced accordingly.
The state’s public housing authority, Housing NSW, has historically been very successful in attracting the well-off to harbourfront public housing, but not so good at working out exactly which flats they’re hiding in.
Housing NSW has been looking forward to the deal, not just because it will pocket $1.5 million up front, but also because the new tenants are lawyers by trade. That may not make them any less prone to drug use, but it probably means they’ll mow the lawn a fair bit more often.
At the end of 2007, Housing NSW had a waiting list of 45,000, and 13,000 dwellings occupied by relatively well-off residents the agency couldn’t evict. Under NSW law, the maximum penalty for occupying public housing you don’t need any more is living in public housing.