After 40 years living in the one house Michael Walsh used to joke that they would have to carry him out on a stretcher.
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The Woonona East resident had been the perfect Housing NSW tenant. He had paid full rent up until eight years ago when he retired and went on the pension.
He had new carpets laid, built-in wardrobes and a garage built - all paid for out of his own pocket. He maintained the property - even when the department wouldn't.
He and his wife have raised three children and celebrated 40 Christmases and countless birthdays in the three-bedroom home.
Come the new year they will have to leave a lifetime of memories behind as the NSW government plans to sell their house and move him and his wife into a two-bedroom, rundown property in a neighbouring suburb.
"I told them I'm not moving until after Christmas," said Mr Walsh, who found out only six weeks ago that he would have to move.
"It's disgraceful the way they did it. I had expected to live here my whole life and to all of a sudden be told to move is terrible.
"One of them said to me 'we're selling and it's bad luck for you that you've been there 40 years'. It wasn't very nice."
Around the corner Wendy Campbell, who suffers from major depression and other medical conditions, is also being forced out of her home of 10 years.
"I feel safe here," she said. "We had moved from Bellambi away from a violent neighbour and we finally felt safe. Now I'm being told that they're going to sell my home from underneath me and that I have no right of appeal."
She said Housing NSW Minister Pru Goward had promised that people with medical needs would not be moved out of their homes.
"Well I fall into that category and they're moving me," she said. "I don't want to move. I live in a nice community. I know the elderly people in my area and I know to check on them if they haven't collected their mail for a couple of days. Who else is going to do that?"
She said a nearby home sold for $680,000 and that another was set for auction at the Wollongong Golf Club on December 4.
Residents plan to set up a picket outside the golf club to protest the sale of public housing on that day.
"I'm distressed that I'm going to have to leave," she said. "I'm gutted that I'm being kicked out. We've made these places our home you know and that's very different to having a roof over your head."
Ms Campbell will be moved by March next year.
Despite the growing waiting list, Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward will continue selling public housing.
Illawarra applicants can now expect to wait for a minimum of five years, with some waiting more than 10 years for suitable housing.
"It's wrong," Mr Walsh said. "They want to sell off all the houses which are located in the more expensive suburbs so they can make money. It's all about the money."
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Community Services said that every effort had been made to find tenants alternative accommodation.
"Public housing assets in NSW must be managed responsibly so as to ensure homes are available for those most in need," the spokesperson said. "A total of 375 new homes have been built in the Illawarra since 2010, while only 155 have been sold. These sales have taken place because the properties were no longer considered suitable for public housing, often because of demographic movements, or they had reached the end of their economic life."
Residents will hold a public meeting at the Bulli Bowling Club tomorrow at 7pm to discuss the issue.