The so-called Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) forces have chalked up some risible justifications, but few are so openly ludicrous as the reasons put forward in opposition to a social housing complex for people over the age of 60 – mostly women – unable to find stable accommodation amid Sydney’s worsening housing crisis.

Residents of Hardwicke Street, Riverwood, in Sydney’s south, have signed a petition to the government opposing plans for a three-storey social housing block in their midst. They claim the modest development threatens to devalue their homes and disrupt the ambience of their “peaceful, family oriented neighbourhood” and lead to an “unwanted invasion of privacy” that might force many people to “keep blinds or curtains drawn at all times”.

An artist’s impression of the 29-unit housing block that Homes NSW is proposing to build for seniors in Riverwood in Sydney’s south.Credit:........

© The Sydney Morning Herald