REDWatch Monthly Meeting - Housing NSW - Planning Mixed Development in Redfern Waterloo

Our Guests at the REDWatch meeting on Thursday will be Bernie Coates and David Lilley from Housing NSW. They will be giving us an update on how HNSW propose to implement the Federally funded Master Planning for the Redevelopment of Public Housing Estates in Redfern and Waterloo.

We have also asked that in addition to the update that we start to get into some of the issues. As the Shelter Conference speakers identified some of the problems that have resulted from mixed housing regeneration in other places we thought this would be a good place to start. We have asked HNSW start off looking at the issues that have been identified elsewhere that will need to be addressed in Redfern Waterloo if such shortcomings are not to be repeated here. This will hopefully focus people on some of the challenges that will need to be addressed. David Lilley is collecting the research evidence relating to the project and is following the debates about social mix within HNSW.

Ross Smith has pulled together some extracts from the Shelter Conference and some other material including some of his Rimfire Review contributions and we have add these to a new section on the REDWatch website called  Social Mix - Will it solve the problems? at www.redwatch.org.au/issues/public-housing/redevelopment/mix. If you have other suggestions as to material that should be added then please let me know. Please have try and have a quick look at some of the material prior to the REDWatch meeting so you are aware of some of the issues to be discussed.

We have also had a bit of a reorganisation of the public housing section of the REDWatch site and there is now a tab on the top of the REDWatch website that leads to at www.redwatch.org.au/issues/public-housing. It is not our intention to cover everything to do with public housing but we do want to focus on Redfern & Waterloo and the issues that need to be addressed in our area. If you want all things public housing I suggest you add yourself to Garry Mallards Tenant Support Network email list and watch your email box fill up. Garry can be contacted at TSN@thenexus.org.au.

Given the interest of the RWA in the public housing issue through BEP2 RWA CEO Roy Wakelin-King may also be in attendance. He is also happy to answer any questions about the Redfern Waterloo Branding Project being undertaken by Roll Up Redfern. The REDWatch Co-ord Group have requested a community statement be issued that explains what the Branding is about.

I hope to see you at the meeting at The Factory Community Centre 67 Raglan Street Waterloo at 6pm Thursday 5 August 2010.

Regards,

Geoffrey Turnbull

Spokesperson

REDWatch