Communities

community development
Inner West Tenant Group
Bringing tenants
together
The Inner West Tenant Group (IWTG)
was formed as a result of grassroots
community development Initiated by Rozelle
Neighbourhood Centre. Susan Hawkeswood
and Lisa Smajlov explain how it came about and
what tenants working together are achieving.
From 2008, Rozelle Neighbourhood
Centre partnered with Housing
NSW to deliver a monthly outreach
program attended by 4-10 clients each
month. The community setting allowed
tenants to access non-housing
related support. The outreach program
ceased in 2010 when a weekly outreach
program commenced at Leichhardt
Centrelink. However, tenants continued
to attend the Rozelle Neighbourhood
Centre but it did not have the capacity
to work one on one with social
housing tenants. The Centre identified
a need to bring tenants together to
work collectively. In August 2011, public
housing tenants were invited to attend
an open forum.
Now, drawn from public and community
housing tenants, IWTG members
are not just focused on maintenance
but create opportunities for tenants
to increase their individual and group
capacity to be agents of change. Stakeholders
from local organisations and
government agencies are represented.
During the past four years, representatives
of Inner Sydney Regional Council
for Social Development, St Vincent
de Paul, Partners in Recovery, Leichhardt
Municipal Council and the Local
Member have regularly attended.
Members of IWTG are seen as activists
and leaders in the community,
working beside local and state government
to be a voice for tenant issues.
The IWTG provides opportunities for
tenants to build skills and capacity
through coordinating:
• Fundraising activities and applying
for grants to fund projects
• Garage sales to encourage tenants to
de-clutter and promote the group to
the wider community
• Monthly meetings
• Open forums
• Mental health awareness activities
• Workshops to contribute to Housing
NSW policy submissions
• Social Housing Stories, a writing
and publishing project
IWTG responds to the demographic
of the Leichhardt LGA where 1,105
tenants live in social housing.
At 4.1% of the population, social housing
tenants are hidden in the overall
image of the Leichhardt area’s gentrification.
Tenants are generally scattered
across the area in small pockets,
lacking connections with their more
affluent immediate neighbours and
are geographically disconnected from
other social housing tenants throughout
the LGA.
8 Inner Sydney Voice • Summer 2015/16 • www.innersydneyvoice.org.au