Bellambi housing rally hears of 'ghetto' fears

A small but vocal crowd rallied outside the office of Wollongong MP and NSW Planning Minister, Paul Scully, at lunchtime on Saturday, demanding a better deal for public housing tenants living at Bellambi.

The Minister responded on Sunday, describing the protest as part of “a dishonest and misleading political campaign”.

"Renewing the Bellambi Estate will enable Homes NSW to deliver modern, fit-for-purposes social and affordable homes that better reflect the needs of current and future residents," Minister Scully said.

Over the next 20 years, the state government wants to redevelop Bellambi Point, which has been dominated by public housing for more than 50 years. Under the new government plan, up to 2500 new homes of between two- and six-storeys high will be built, with at least 30 per cent of those new homes to be social housing.

Annie told Saturday‘s Crown Street rally she has lived in Bellambi for 21 years. “The people from Housing tell us we’ll all have to move out,” Annie said. “So I asked them, ‘When are you going to kick us out?’ They said, ‘We don‘t have any houses to move you into at the moment.’

'Don't want to live in a shoebox'

“I’m very worried and very stressed,” Annie said. “I don’t want to live in a shoebox.”

Annie told the crowd of about 30 she works as a cleaner and stores all her cleaning equipment and chemicals safely in her garage. “If they move me into a smaller place with no garage where am I supposed to store my stuff?”

She described the state government‘s plans for Bellambi as “robbing from the poor to give to the rich. That’s exactly what they’re doing.”

Annie said she believes the new housing plans will mainly benefit developers who will build expensive apartments close to the water which will sell for millions of dollars.

Suzanne Haddon is a private property owner who bought into Bellambi in 2018 and she says she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

“I love that we all live close to the beach and right now we have a great community. We have homes that work for the people,” Suzanne said.

'A concrete jungle'

“Our fear is that six-storey buildings will go up, creating a concrete jungle on the beach. Bellambi must remain for the people, and not for private enterprise and greed to come in and destroy it.”

Suzanne also had concerns about “the thousands of extra cars that will come on to our local roads creating total gridlock”.

The people of Bellambi deserved better, said rally organiser Luke Hocking, from the Public Housing Action Network and the NSW Socialists, a new party that will contest the state government election for the first time in 2027.

“If it was really about what was good for public housing tenants, then Paul Scully and his ilk would be down there talking to people about what kind of development they want; because people aren’t opposed to having new places put up. They’re opposed to being jammed into tiny apartments, where they now have three- or four-bedroom houses,” Luke said.

”It’s pretty clear that the renewal proposal for Bellambi estate is about kicking out working-class people, the poor, to make Bellambi a seaside playground for the rich who can afford luxury apartments.”

Wayne Whitby, a resident at Bellambi since 2014, was one of many who signed a petition calling on Wollongong City Council to not allow the state government to create what several speakers described as “a ghetto”.

He also called for much more consultation. “It’s pathetic what’s going on here. We have no idea what’s happening, and when. We’re all in limbo.”

Planning Minister responds

On Sunday, the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and the Member for Wollongong, Paul Scully, issued the following statement:

"I understand that NSW’s political party of professional protestors has continued its deliberate, dishonest, and misleading political campaign about the rezoning proposal for the Bellambi Estate.

"Yesterday’s small gathering was nothing more than a local election campaign launch for the NSW Socialists with no understanding shown for the need to renew the run-down, near 70-year-old houses in the Bellambi Estate.

"Once again, the NSW Socialists political party is selfishly putting its protest politics ahead of real people’s needs.

"The Minns Government is the government of progress – not protest – and is making it easier for people to get a home to rent or to buy in the communities they choose. We are making it easier to build homes in NSW and providing a record investment in expanding social housing supply.

"The Government is now reviewing feedback from the community about the Bellambi rezoning proposal, which will nearly double the amount of social housing in the area, create a new local centre that residents have said they want, improve open space, and increase tree planting.

"This is a long-term proposal aimed at helping ease pressure on the local housing market by increasing housing supply.

"The fact is: public housing in Bellambi is not being sold off – pure and simple.

"This is one example of the dishonest and misleading assertions by the NSW Socialists political party. It should be noted that the NSW Socialists party has always found excuses to oppose increases in social and affordable housing, no matter where it might be.

"Renewing the Bellambi Estate will enable Homes NSW to deliver modern, fit-for-purposes social and affordable homes that better reflect the needs of current and future residents."

Homes NSW – which is part of the Department of Communities and Justice – has published a list of Bellambi rezoning FAQs on its website.

As previously reported, at Wollongong City Council's March meeting, councillors approved staff’s draft submission which was overall supportive of the Bellambi Point rezoning.

The Illawarra Flame has contacted Wollongong City Council for comment.