Campaigners crash conference on Sirius hitting the market

Social Housing Minister Pru Goward was confronted by angry campaigners trying to save Sydney’s iconic Sirius building during a media conference today.

Ms Goward was trying to explain how the sale of the property would provide funds for additional public housing in the city.

The sell-off has been held up by the refusal of the last remaining resident to leave the 12-storey building, which has been used for social housing for more than 30 years.

Developers are expected to replace it with hundreds of private apartments despite the fierce opposition from activists.

Myra Demetriou, a 91-year-old legally blind woman, is not leaving without putting up a fight.

But she will be relocated to a new home in coming days after FACS found her a property she could physically access.

Stopping Ms Goward in the foyer today, Mrs Demetriou said the government was “greedy”.

“I'm legally blind, my knees don’t work, I can’t climb steps, it’s just ridiculous,” she told reporters.

“The thought of packing up and moving horrifies me.”

As Ms Goward tried to address the assembled media today, a man waving a poster began raising his voice as security guards approached him.

“They have not spoken to anybody from this community in four years,” the man said.

“Four years we’ve been asking this woman to come and visit people in this community to talk about solutions for housing, for Sirius, for public housing and social housing.

“She has refused; she has ignored.”

Ms Goward did say that there were 60,000 people on NSW's social housing waiting list with proceeds from the building sale being used to build more social housing around the state.

The Sirius building sell-off is part of the government's plan to sell 300 state-owned properties in prime locations across Sydney, including 240 properties in Millers Point.

“This is our determination to provide more public housing,” Ms Goward said.

“We have 60,000 families on the waiting list. We need to address the shortage of public housing in Sydney.

“For each Millers Point property sold we are building close to five new homes.”