“Just, ‘Quick, get out of our way, we want to make our money.’” This is how John Higgins describes the attitude of real estate agents keen to make a buck from the sell-off of his home and others on Welfare Street in Homebush, in Sydney’s west. 

It’s the home Higgins has lived in since he was a year old. His father worked at the abattoir in Homebush for 50 years, when workers were given housing nearby for their families. As late as April last year, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority – which took ownership of the homes after the 2000 Olympics – was giving assurances to tenants that their affordable rental agreements were still good. In November, the elderly residents were receiving eviction notices. Their houses had been sold en masse to a property investment company that in turn would auction each house to make what it could.

There’s a lot at stake for some, like Higgins’ next door neighbours, Bruce and Lyn Begnell.

“I’m 67, but there’s more elderly people than me. There’s Bruce next door, who’s legally blind; he’s 80. He was in hospital when the eviction notice was served. He was a beef slaughterman and he worked at the abattoir for 40 years. His dad was a drover. He used to drive the sheep from Flemington station over to Homebush abattoirs”, Higgins said.

The Begnells have a combined income of about $600 per week, making it virtually impossible for them to keep up with market rents. The termination notices they were served gave them 36 days to leave. They were supposed to be out by 13 December, one week before the auctions were held.

Despite strong-arming by real estate agents, Higgins and others have refused to leave without a fight. He says at least eight of the 12 homes on Welfare Street and nearby Flemington Road are still occupied. Higgins did his best to warn potential buyers that the tenants in the houses on Welfare Street were protected under special laws, but found himself at odds with the real estate agent.

“They were heavy, they were threatening. I had arguments every weekend with them when they had the open house. I have signs on the front of the house – two big signs – and I let everyone know when they came in for the open house. I was battling with the real estate agents because I may have caused them to get less for the houses”, Higgins told Red Flag.

Indeed, Strathfield Partners managing director Robert Pignataro complained to the Sydney Morning Herald that the occupied homes sold for an average of $100,000 less than the vacant ones.

Even though all of the houses were sold, there are reasons for hope on Welfare Street. Firstly, some of the residents are protected tenants under a 1948 amendment to the Landlord and Tenant Act. Protected tenancy agreements were brought in on the back of the eviction riots of the 1930s, to limit rent increases and make it harder for landlords to evict. 

But some tenants are not protected, and Higgins is one of them. “One of the conditions you have to meet to be a protected tenant is to be on a carer’s pension … I did everything for dad here before he died, but I was never actually on a carer’s pension”, he said. He went to Centrelink for help, but they could do nothing for him.

The greater hope seems to lie with the fact that the real estate agent auctioned off the homes as individual properties before the council had approved the subdivision of the street, which is legally a single lot. Centennial Property Group, the company that bought the government-owned housing for $5.8 million, auctioned the properties for a total of $10.5 million. But it sent the request for subdivision only two days prior to the auctions taking place. With no decision on the subdivision having been made, the sales have not been completed and may yet fall over. 

Higgins has no plans to move any time soon, and he’s prepared to stand with his neighbours, who are desperately trying to live out their lives in the homes they have known for decades. 

“I’m grateful for the years I’ve had living here, but I’m mainly staying here to stand by the other neighbours. The good part about it is that it’s brought us all together really well”, he said.