THE discovery of the badly decomposed body of an elderly man in Sydney — the third case in a fortnight — has sparked calls for a return to old-fashioned values of neighbourliness in Australia’s biggest city.

The man’s unit was on the 15th floor of the Joseph Banks building, one of the notorious 1950s Waterloo public housing blocks colloquially known as the“Towers of Despair” which have a mixed population of elderly, the mentally ill and the drug addicted.

Senior vice-president of the Combined Pensioners Association Grace Selway said the deaths highlighted the way Australian society had changed, with everyone too busy to care about each other. “There is no contact with your neighbours,” she said. “In the old days, families looked after their elderly. That doesn’t happen any more.”

THE discovery of the badly decomposed body of an elderly man in Sydney — the third case in a fortnight — has sparked calls for a return to old-fashioned values of neighbourliness in Australia’s biggest city.

On Monday night, police found the skeleton of a man sitting at a table. The remains had gone undetected in his inner-Sydney housing department unit for more than seven months.

The man’s unit was on the 15th floor of the Joseph Banks building, one of the notorious 1950s Waterloo public housing blocks colloquially known as the“Towers of Despair” which have a mixed population of elderly, the mentally ill and the drug addicted.

The grisly find comes little more than a week after that of the badly decomposed body of a 62-year-old man in another nearby housing block, and that of a 79-year-old woman at Umina, on the NSW Central Coast.

The deaths have also sparked criticism of the lack of support networks for elderly people in NSW.

Police commander for the Redfern Local Area Command, Catherine Burn, said the latest incident came to light after a friend of the man contacted them.

“A situation like this is very tragic,” she said. “It is very, very difficult for police and everyone involved.”

Anthony Tarry, a neighbour of the man discovered dead on Monday, said he felt badly that he hadn’t tried to break down the door or alert authorities, after he noticed the man was not around, but that he hadn’t wanted to intrude.

He described the dead man as a quiet, reclusive character who made regular trips to hospital. They had become friends because the man had taught him to play chess. “There was no smell, nothing,” he said.

“When the police opened the door, within three metres there he was, sitting at a table, skeletal.”

Director of the NSW Council of Social Services Gary Moore said the death highlighted that the Department of Housing had a duty of care to all its tenants to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

“Some elderly people want to be alone, but equally there are many others who crave company but can’t access appropriate services,” he said.

“This could be an increasingly big issue because the population is ageing. Already, 50 per cent of us live in one- or two-person households.”

Senior vice-president of the Combined Pensioners Association Grace Selway said the deaths highlighted the way Australian society had changed, with everyone too busy to care about each other. “There is no contact with your neighbours,” she said. “In the old days, families looked after their elderly. That doesn’t happen any more.”

Mrs Selway said many elderly people valued their privacy, liked to live alone, and it didn’t matter how many neighbourhood centres there were, they would not participate in community events.

One solution was the provision of emergency bracelets that the elderly could activate if they got into trouble, but at present these were too expensive for most pensioners.

Co-ordinator for South Sydney Community Aid Jan Leach said more bodies would be found in similar circumstances and she was not the least surprised by thelatest find.

“We are very concerned at social isolation in Redfern and Waterloo,” she said.