Sydney’s high streets are what make our city a good place to live. They are the fabric of our communities.

Commercial landlords are raising rents, emptying out shops and killing our high streets.

Glebe Point Road, King Street, and Oxford Street all used to be home to many bustling, independently run restaurants and shops, together with community run spaces, making them the beating hearts of our city.

Though some are still clinging on, long-running institutions are starting to close while other shopfronts have sat empty for years at a time or had high turnover of tenants. We are losing good jobs at a time when people can lease afford it and forcing valued members of our community to leave.

Landlords putting up prices to unreasonable levels has made even long-running, dearly loved venues like Different Drummer unviable.

Enough. No more empty shops and dead streets.

Local and state government must:

• Punish private landlords who do not have tenants in their shopfronts for extended periods with higher rates and taxes, disincentivising landbanking and unrealistic rental valuations.
• Offer struggling landlords a way out through purchase of their properties at true market value.
• Co-invest with business owners seeking to buy the space they rent.
• For purchased properties, provide opportunities to worker-run businesses and co-ops with fair rents.

If governments refuse to take action, we will.

Community meeting

We are organising our first gathering at Glebe Town Hall at 2:45pm on Saturday 4 February 2023. Speakers will include community groups, local politicians and people who work in or operate independent businesses. Sign up to receive an invitation to the event or to express interest in speaking.

Who is organising this campaign?

We are local Glebe residents frustrated with what is happening in our community. We are not affiliated with an organisation and will not share contact information with any organisation, or use it for any purpose other than communicating about this campaign.