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Other RW Issues

The Redfern Eveleigh Darlington Waterloo (REDW) area is very diverse as are the issues faced by the area. To help people navigate throught the information on the site we will over time try to bring the information together around some of the major issues facing the communities that live here. Material on many issues is already covered in the Updates section, media or other parts of this site. We suggest that you use the search bar at the top right hand side of the screen to search for keywords connected to issues of interest.
Consultation
One of the major issues for any community is having a say in what happens within their community. Under local government you elect representatives and have guaranteed opportunities for involvement in the decision making process. With the RWA taking control away from local government these guaranteed opportunities for involvement are also lost and we have promises of consultation in their place. Trying to make real the language of consultation and turn it into partnership with the community has been one of the major challenges facing people living in the REDW area. Here we explores some of the history and some of the issues.
Public Housing
Redfern Waterloo is home to many public housing tenants. Changes in both Federal and NSW Government funding and policy over the years is seeing increased pressure on public tenants and on the suburbs in which they live. Changes to occupancy and behaviour rules, water charges and the need for improved delivery of human services to public tenants are all important issues for the area. The RWA has also indicated that in Stage One of the Redfern Waterloo Plan that they will be starting to plan for redevelopment of some public housing estates in Redfern Waterloo. Some redevelopment is already planned for Elizabeth Street Redfern by NSW Department of Housing which will provide a litmus test for how the government will handle such developments in the future.
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney abuts the suburb of Darlington. Over the years the University has been buying up the area and consolidating their land holdings. As an example the current Darlington Primary School was built to replace the old Darlington school which was taken over by the University. With proposals in late 2007 to consolidate the University's Abercrombie Street precinct the school will again be surrounded on two sides by the University campus.
Affordable Housing
With sky rocketing Sydney property prices Housing Affordability is a big problem. Both the NSW and the Australian Governments have been slow to consider anything other than a build more housing solution under the misapprehension that the Sydney property market works like the banana market. Here we have collected together some material on Affordable Housing Issues including on what models have been used overseas to address the problem that could be considered in Australia.
NSW Housing Policy
This section of the site holds information on NSW housing policy that is relevant to the Redfern-Waterloo area.
Making Change
Here are materials that might be if use to those looking at change and how to bring it about