Residents of a Cooks Hill boarding house being evicted next month have met with several housing services to discuss their options.
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp organised the meeting for Tuesday morning after being contacted by Rodney Bowen, who is one of dozens of boarders facing homelessness after the developer of the Parkway Avenue residence issued a four week eviction notice in order to repair the building.
Representatives from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, along with homelessness services and property managers met with the residents to help them find accommodation moving forward, including providing information about how to apply for government housing.
"It alleviated a lot of anxiety among people," Mr Bowen said.
"I wouldn't exactly say there were great outcomes at this stage, but it got the ball rolling."
"But then we need to look at how people will be able to move out. Some of the residents don't drive."
Mr Crakanthorp said the most important thing was to "get these people into accommodation as soon as possible" and that he would be following the situation up further, but believed the developer Aspen Group could be doing more to assist them.
"This developer certainly could provide them with more time," he said. "They're very vulnerable people and they need support.
"There are people there who have been homeless.
"It's cold, it's miserable, we don't want people getting sick. We've got to look after these people.
"This is not just a normal situation of people being kicked out of housing."
Aspen said they were working with the agent Street Property Newcastle to help find available housing and there had already been progress to find places for some of the residents.
"We are mindful that it's a distressing situation," an Aspen spokesperson said.
"We are working with Street Property to make sure there's suitable accommodation options before anyone is forced to be vacated."
