The NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) is currently attempting to disconnect water supply to nine government-owned houses in Lismore which have been providing shelter to homeless people since May 2024.
Local residents and homeless people are protesting the move, having parked caravans over the water lines and defending their water. There is now a peaceful stand-off with police and authorities.
This action comes despite attempts by Northern Rivers homelessness and disaster recovery groups ‘House You’ and ‘Reclaim Our Recovery’ (ROR) to negotiate a humane solution with the RA.
Access to water and sanitation has been recognised as a fundamental human right by the United Nations (Resolution A/RES/64/292) since 2010.
Breathtakingly callous
‘It’s breathtakingly callous for a government authority to use water disconnection as a tactic against homeless people. This is a clear violation of basic human rights and international humanitarian standards. The NSW government is knowingly creating a public health crisis by cutting off water and sanitation from people who have nowhere else to go,’ said Chels Hood Withey of House You.
‘The people of Pine St are humans entitled to basic human rights. The public has a right to expect that their own government will not deliberately create a public health crisis to force people out,’ said Miriam Torzillo of Reclaim Our Recovery.
She noted that there are over 800 vacant government-owned homes in the Northern Rivers region.
‘The occupation of 8 homes in a quiet backstreet of Lismore is being treated as so problematic that the authorities are willing to ignore basic public health and international law to push these people out. It is staggering overreach,’ an ROR spokesperson added.
Crisis
The homelessness crisis in the Northern Rivers continues to worsen, with promised public housing solutions being drastically reduced from 40 homes to just 10, according to recent meetings between ROR and the RA.
‘We are not surprised that politics is again triumphing over humanity, but we are disappointed that the Reconstruction Authority could be so intransigent and reckless in their approach. Any downstream consequences will fall on the authorities who have chosen this path,’ said a statement from House You.
They argue that water disconnection threatens basic sanitation, and residents of Pine Street – including students, young workers and vulnerable community members – face an immediate violation of humanitarian standards in the middle of an Australian summer while they await the Supreme Court order that would legally force them to vacate.
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