REDWatch Explorer Street Rezoning Submission
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The latest news from REDWatch
Rebecca Pinkstone named as inaugural head of Homes NSW
The Government has just announced the new head of Homes NSW which is to start operation on 1 February 2024. Homes NSW will be established within the department of Communities and Justice. The text of the DCJ media release of 21 December 2023 is provided below.
Waterloo Consortia down to the Stockland and Lendlease consortia
LAHC have announced that the Stockland and Lendlease consortia have been shortlisted to undertake the Waterloo public housing redevelopment with a final decision on the successful tenderer expected mid 2024.
REDWatch Explorer Street Rezoning Submission
This submission on the 2023 rezoning of Explorer Street South Eveleigh was produced by REDWatch. REDWatch objected to the proposal on the basis that a delay on this rezoning was likely to result in a better social and affordable housing outcome.
Shelter NSW Explorer Street Rezoning Submission
This submission on the 2023 rezoning of Explorer Street South Eveleigh was produced by Shelter NSW which was unable to support the proposal.
Counterpoint Community Services Explorer Street Rezoning Submission
This submission on the 2023 rezoning of Explorer Street South Eveleigh was produced by Counterpoint Community Services
Stockland Lendlease shortlisted LAHC letter to tenants
LAHC letter of 5 December 2023 to tenants regarding short listing of Stockland and Lendlease consortia for the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate. This letter was distributed prior to media announcement in line with LAHC commitment to tenants.
Explorer Street South Eveleigh public housing rezoning proposal - exhibition until 1st December 2023
The Explorer Street South Eveleigh public housing rezoning proposal is on exhibition until Friday 1 December extended from 17 November 2023. The area proposed for redevelopment includes social housing dwellings on Explorer Street, Station Place and Aurora Place, but not nearby properties in Rowley Street, which are managed by Bridge Housing. Here you will find information about the exhibition. This page was updated with new information on the DPE webinar recording and Council's submission on 17 November 2023.
Explorer Street Rezoning Issues for Consideration
This page has been prepared by REDWatch to assist people in preparing their submissions about the Explorer Street Rezoning which closes on 1 December 2023. It covers background context to the proposal including on broader government policy that impacts the rezoning. It also covers the intended effects and identifies issues raised by the community.
Summary of the SIA Recommendations for Explorer Street Eveleigh
This is a searchable PDF of the Section 8 of the Explorer Street, Eveleigh Social Infrastructure and Social Impact Assessment. This section summarises the recommendations from the SIA that are assessed in the earlier section 7. Appendix F deals with the scoping of the issues and Appendix G deals with the assessment of significance against the DPE SIA framework. As the issues or the redevelopment of an existing public housing estate in Eveleigh will be similar to the issues faced on other inner city public housing redevelopments (such as Waterloo) we have extracted the SIA recommendations as they are likely to have a wider audience that Explorer Street.
Towards a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for Waterloo
Eight years into the Waterloo redevelopment there has still not been a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), it is not required until the first Development Application (DA) probably in 2025. The Department of Planning undertook a SIA for the rezoning of public housing at Explorer Street Eveleigh in 2023 using the state government’s SIA requirements as part of a joint SIA and Social infrastructure study. As the Eveleigh site has an existing public housing community that will be impacted, the findings of that SIA portion gives us a good starting point to think about what should be covered in a Waterloo SIA. The social infrastructure element of the Eveleigh report is site specific and is not readily comparable to Waterloo.
Explorer Street, Eveleigh Social Infrastructure and Social Impact Assessment (fully searchable PDF)
This is a copy of the Social Infrastructure and Social Impact Assessment for Explorer Street that is searchable as a PDF. The report on exhibition have pages throughout the report that are not searchable and hence make it difficult for interested people to find all the references that may occur. As the Social Impact Assessment Section of this report is of potential relevance to other public housing redevelopments in the inner city and was undertaken for the Department of Planning and Environment, REDWatch has performed an optical character recognition (OCR) on the non text pages. OCRs are not perfect so users should check the PDF search result against the underlying text. It maybe that some search occurrences may not show up if the OCR has not correctly identified the letters correctly. Users of this document should hence exercise their own judgement in extracting text and check it against the underlying image. Even though the OCR process may create errors this process makes this document much more accessable to users who wish to find parts of the document that might be of interest.
Have your say on rezoning plans for Explorer Street in Eveleigh
This media release was issued on Friday 13 October 2023 by Paul Scully, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and Rose Jackson Minister for Housing about the rezoning exhibition until 17 November for Explorer Street Eveleigh.
People Power in Cities - Kurt Iveson Presentation Slides 5 Oct 2023
This is the presentation slides from a presentation to REDWatch in October 2023. A video with audio is also on YouTube at https://youtu.be/QWmT76xCYzA. This session was well received by attendees and should be of value for tenants, activists, NGOs and political party members - basically anyone interested in change.
People Power in Cities - Presentation to REDWatch by Kurt Iveson 5 Oct 2023
This is a recording of a presentation to REDWatch in October 2023 on YouTube. This session was well received by attendees and should be of value for tenants, activists, NGOs and political party members - basically anyone interested in change. Around Australian public housing estates and in the wider civic society there are a range of different approaches to how people bring about change. Kurt Iveson from Sydney University started with asking attendees to explore strategies to get a pedestrian crossing at his local school and then relates this to the ways different communities around the world bring about change. What can we learn from what is happening elsewhere? And how can our communities have a greater say over what happens to them? Kurt’s around the world research with Amanda Tattersall identifies five models people are using to bring about people power and change. They call these 5 approaches playing the game, mobilising, organising, prefigurating and parties and Kurt unpacks the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches.
Making Change
Here are materials that might be if use to those looking at change and how to bring it about
Waterloo Human Services Action Plan Update - 13 October 2023
This update on the Waterloo Human Services Collaborative's Action Plan appeared in the October 2023 Waterloo newsletter.
Waterloo Community Update Newsletter 13 October 2023
This newsletter was distributed to Waterloo public housing tenants in October 2023. It provides an update on the redevelopment of Waterloo South after the increase in social and affordable housing to 50% and some reporting on meetings with tenants in Waterloo South and responses to some of the rumours that were raised. It also has an update on the Waterloo Human Services Action Pls\an dealing with the current issues facing tenants.
LAHC Waterloo South - People and Place Feedback Overview
This feedback overview was provided to attendees at a workshop for government and non-government organisations on 11 October 2023. It gives a very high overview of what LAHC heard from consultations about it People and Place framework. Concern has been expressed by some NGOs including REDWatch that the report does not adequately reflect the input from NGOs at previous meetings. As an example the "Community Plan workshop" report on page 27 makes no changes to the strongly criticised four sheets shown.
People Power: Models that are changing communities and cities - REDWatch 5 October 6pm
Kurt Iveson from Sydney Uni will explore examples of different ways in which different communities around the world bring about change. What can we learn from what is happening elsewhere? And how can our communities have a greater say over what happens to them?
People Power: Models that are changing communities and cities - Flyer
This is the flyer for the REDWatch Meeting 5 October 2023 @ 6pm at the Factory – People Power: Models that are changing communities and cities.
Waterloo South to proceed with new targets - updated REDWatch response
Below is an updated REDWatch response to the announcement of new social and affordable housing targets for Waterloo South announced publicly on 21 August 2023. Some changes have been made to the initial response to reference additional material and responses as well as to cover comments made at today's media conference.
Little Eveleigh / Lawson / Ivy / Wilson Streets traffic & parking changes – feedback until Sunday 10 Sept
Transport for NSW has extended the consultation for the proposed redirection of Little Eveleigh Street after making available additional information. The proposed changes impact the above streets as well as requiring traffic from the west to use Shepherd Street and Vine Street to access Little Eveleigh Street. An onsite meeting has been organised with local MP Jenny Leong for Thursday 7 September at 4pm at the corner of Little Eveleigh and Lawson Streets.
Waterloo Public Housing Update – 6pm Thurs 7 September
The NSW Government has announced that the Waterloo South redevelopment will proceed with an increased quantity of social and affordable housing. At the same time work is underway to create a new Homes NSW agency and to overhaul a much criticised public housing maintenance system. The REDWatch meeting on Thursday 7th September at 6pm will provide an update on all these changes proposed by the new NSW Government.
REDWatch Waterloo Public Housing Update Meeting 7 Sept 2023 Poster
This is the poster for the September 2023 REDWatch meeting with updates on the Waterloo South redevelopment post the Goverenment's new targets for Social and Affordable Housing as well as updates on Homes NSW and the 2024 Public Housing maintenance contract.
Redfern Station and local traffic - Clover Moore letter to Jo Haylen
This letter of 28 August 2023 on behalf of Lawson Street and Little Eveleigh Street residents calls for Transport for NSW to call a meeting with residents to discuss a TfNSW changed traffic plan which changes the direction of traffic in Little Eveleigh Street in a way that would make it impossible to enter from the Newtown direction and it it was accessible potentially invite a rat run to avoid bank ups in Lawson Street. Unmentioned in the proposal is a plan residents claim to stop then from standing outside their houses to unload as TfNSW propose a no stopping zone in front of their houses. The consultation had short notice and did not contain all the information necessary to explain the proposals and their implication hence residents made representations to Council, with which TfNSW said they were working.
REDWatch calculations based on August 2023 increase in social and affordable housing
REDWatch has undertaken an analysis of the numbers for different tenure types in Waterloo South. The figures used are the minimum figures from the rezoning, and ministerial announcements on 4 November 2022 and 21 August 2023. While all care has been taken it is possible the spreadsheet contains errors so please check yourself and advise if any errors are found. At the media conference today the Housing Minister dismissed the suggestion that there would only be a 53 unit increase in social housing. These figures substantiate the basis for that calculation.
Waterloo South – good, but still time for a better deal for social housing and to raise the bar on what Government can deliver
This is the Shelter NSW media release on the announcement to increase the social and affordable housing on Waterloo South.
Counterpoint Community Services on Waterloo Increase
Below is how Counterpoint Community Services advised their newsletter readers about the Government announcement to increase the quantity of social and affordable housing in Waterloo South on 21 August 2023.
Waterloo South social and affordable housing boosted to 50% - Media Release
This is the media release from The Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Housing that was issued about the increased targets for the Waterloo South housing redevelopment.
Waterloo Redevelopment letter to tenants 19 Aug 2023
In this letter distributed to Waterloo Estate tenants on Saturday 19 August, Housing Minister Rose Jackson advised tenants that the Waterloo South LAHC redevelopment would now see 30% social and 20% affordable housing delivered. In addition a minimum of 15% of both kinds of housing would be dedicated to Aboriginal people. The relocations process has been delayed until mid-2024 with six months’ notice still being given for those initially required to move. The letter provided no details of how the government will fund the changes. REDWatch welcomes this letter being distributed to tenants before the media anouncement.
Action for Public Housing condemns Waterloo decision
Below is the text of the media release issued by Action for Public Housing, a grassroots collective of tenants and supporters who organise to defend and extend public housing, in response to the revised targets for the Waterloo South public housing redevelopment.
Homes NSW Consultation
On 20 July The Housing Minister held a consultation with invited organisations to get feedback on principles for the formation of Homes NSW. Further consultations are proposed. REDWatch is making available some of the details of the July consultation to encourage tenants, those on the waiting list and services to consider what they might want to say to the Minister about what should be stopped, what should be started and what should be continued. Below is what was supplied to participants at the 20 July Consultation.
Planning reforms to deliver social and affordable housing
The Minns Labor Government will use new NSW planning laws to focus state-owned housing corporations on tackling the state’s housing crisis, by building more social and affordable homes, faster according to this media statement on 19 June 2023 released by the Minister for Housing and the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. The changes increase self-assessment powers for LAHC and AHO from 60 dwellings and 2 storeys to 75 dwellings and 3 storeys. Projects with more than 75 homes or more than $30 million capital investment will have an expanded State Significant Development pathway.
TfNSW proposal to reverse Little Eveleigh Street - until Sept 10th 2023
