Sandwiched between high-rise blocks stands a nearly 100-year-old Queenslander that has served as a pensioner’s home for the past decade. Now, the 65-year-old is being evicted by a developer to make way for yet another tower.
“I’ve lived there for 10 years, it’s become home,” Bernie Maloney says. “It’s disappointing to get tossed around.”
Like a lot of old Queenslanders, Maloney’s rental in the inner north suburb of Milton has seen better days. The roof is rusted, the handrails are held together by sticky tape and the whole building is in desperate need of a new coat of paint.
But passersby don’t see what Maloney does; the possums in the roof that he feeds, the bush turkeys digging around the garden and the beautiful poinsettia tree in the backyard.
It is also affordable. Maloney says he can’t afford to rent anywhere else in Brisbane and is not sure where he’ll end up once the 16 May eviction date comes around.
“No landlord wants to rent to a single pensioner,” he says.
“I will probably have to move out of Brisbane to stay temporarily with friends in Nimbin or Russell Island.”
In January, property developer Goldfields Group bought Maloney’s home and three of the other remaining Queenslanders on the street.
The company plans to knock three of the houses down and uproot one pre-1911 property to a site in Wynnum. Once the land is cleared, the company plans to build a 19-storey apartment block on the acre block, hosting 130 units.
“The area’s changed enormously. All these multi-storey buildings have gone up and there are hardly any Queenslanders left,” Maloney says.
It’s not just Maloney and his housemate Brad who will be impacted by the eviction. Over the years, Maloney has ushered dozens of people off the streets and into his home, allowing them a safe place to stay when in need.
“I’m a carer … [There’s] been dozens of people here. They didn’t all pay rent but stayed a few days or weeks at a time,” he says.
Maloney’s generosity has earned him a kind of neighbourhood celebrity status in parts of south and inner-city Brisbane. He’s also won the support of the Brisbane Renters Alliance, who have launched a civil disobedience campaign to resist forced evictions.
“We are now living through a housing crisis. 10,000 Brisbanites are homeless, over 50,000 Queenslanders are on the public housing waiting list [and] over 15,500 Queensland children are victims of housing stress,” a spokesperson from the Brisbane Renters Alliance said.
“No one should be evicted into homelessness, especially not in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet.”
A spokesperson from Goldfields said “as a responsible developer”, the company “is committed to the communities that we have a presence in.”
“Goldfields is currently considering a further extension to the tenant’s lease notice period and, where possible, will assist with his efforts to secure an alternative residence.”
Maloney says rent control should be introduced in Queensland to stop low-income renters being displaced.
“I pay $320 a week in rent for my Milton home, on top of electricity and bills, [and] I’ve already been priced out of West End,” he says.
“If we had 1,000 people willing to spend a couple weeks in jail, we could save the four old buildings and slow down this monstrosity.”
