Low-cost housing tenants have been likened to paedophiles, bums, deviants and drug addicts in an ugly backlash against a proposed eight-unit development on Sydney's northern beaches.

The small, $670,000 boarding house in Cromer, which would house no more than 13 residents under NSW's affordable housing laws, has attracted a whopping 800 submissions to the local council objecting to the plan.

Residents protest against the planned boarding house gather in Cromer. Credit:Facebook

Among the fierce dissenters is the principal of nearby Cromer Public School, Maureen Gray, who lodged a personal submission against the proposal, as well as writing extensively about the boarding house in school newsletters.

A complaint has now been lodged with the Department of Education about Ms Gray's conduct and her use of school and taxpayer resources to further the campaign against the boarding house, including her support for the group "Save Cromer".