Homes for People Not Profit Rally

BMUC members will be joining Action for Public Housing in a rally at Sydney Town Hall. We'll be travelling as a group in the second last carriage of the train to Sydney. See the schedule below for the train timetable so you can join us. Check the Transport NSW website for up to date information about travel alerts, track work and accessibiltiy.

NSW is facing a severe housing crisis.

Rents have risen by nearly 20% in Sydney in the past 12 months and more in many regional areas. Public housing waiting lists have grown by 15% while the stock of public housing grew by less than 1%. Homelessness is rising around the country while more than a million homes sit empty on any given night.

In Sydney renters have had weekly rents climb by 23.7% in the last 12 months and it continues to rise. As a result of continuing interest rate increases some 300,000+ mortgage holders are at risk of defaulting on their loans. Some face homelessness.

Shamefully, 1 million properties are empty on any given night. 122,494 people are homeless every night based on ABS 2021 figures and the number grows weekly.

The Albanese Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund will barely scratch the surface, aiming to fund homes for just 12% of households currently on a public housing waiting list. 

Instead of developing a public housing plan to support the vulnerable, the new ALP Minns-led NSW government will continue with the Liberal Party plan to demolish public housing in Waterloo and Wentworth Park Road, Glebe. 

The plans will result in replacement of some of the public housing lost, however private housing will dominate the redevelopments.  

 The public and social housing waiting list across Australia is more than 150,000 and rising. When you include people living in housing stress, the actual need for public housing is over 600,000 homes. This number continues to grow as the housing crisis and homelessness continues to rise. 

The problem is governments treating housing like a commodity. But we need housing for people, not for profit.

On June 17, 1pm, at Sydney Town Hall join Action for Public Housing, a group of public housing tenants, homelessness advocates, unions and anti-poverty groups for a Rally to demand: Housing for People, Not Profit. 

We are demanding: Freeze and lower rents and end no-grounds evictions now! Build more public housing. Eliminate homelessness and the waiting list and make public housing a genuine alternative to the private rental market. Stop privatising public housing. Don’t demolish -- repair, refurbish and renovate public housing.