Redevelopment

Redevelopment of Public Housing is on both the RWA and the Department of Housing agenda. Here we have bought together some material about redevelopment plans in Redfern Waterloo and the current Government thinking and experience.

REDWatch Statements on Redevelopment: REDWatch issued a discussion paper in August 2010 about some of the issues that need to be considered in the redevelopment of Redfern and Waterloo public housing. Here you will find that paper, responses to it and other statements made by REDWatch about BEP2 & HNSW's Preliminary Masterplan.
HNSW Statements on Redevelopment: Housing NSW have produced newsletters for tenants in Redfern and Waterloo in the lead up to and during the Master Planning process. Here we have collected those newsletters and other HNSW statements relating to the proposed redevelopment.
HNSW Preliminary Master Plan: The Preliminary Master Plan is funded by a 2009 Federal Government Affordable Housing Fund Grant and is to be completed by June 2012. While it falls within the Draft BEP2 framework it is not the comprehensive Master Plan referred to within the BEP2. More work will need to be funded to both take the Preliminary Master Plan to a full Master Plan for the area covered in the project and to cover off all the areas in BEP2. REDWatch is posting these documents so they are publicly available electronically in the absence of Housing NSW being able to post them on their own website.
RWA & SMDA Plans: One of the last major acts of the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA) in 2011 was to exhibit the Draft Built Environment Plan Phase 2 for the redevelopment of the public housing estates in Redfern and Waterloo. The draft included a mixture of government policy about the redevelopment and draft planning controls. The HNSW Preliminary Master Plan is a continuation of this process. Meanwhile the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority which subsumed the RWA is to undertake a wider study across the Redfern Waterloo area and as part of this it is to finalise the BEP2 controls and put them on public exhibition. Here you will find links to the RWA and SMDA plans.
City of Sydney and Public Housing: During 2006 the City of Sydney undertook an Urban Design Study of Redfern Waterloo. This study included land owned by the then NSW Department of Housing. The study found that some areas of Public Housing were of quite low density and that there were opportunities to increase density on Housing New South Wales (HNSW) lands and decrease heights. Here we have bought together the key aspects of this study as it relates to public housing. We have also some maps from the CoS Draft LEP in September 2010 which show what CoS proposed as their controls for the HNSW area prior to RWA BEP2 and HNSW's Preliminary Master Plan. While the Draft BEP2 proposed an increase of 35% in density over the Council study, the Council submission on BEP2 actually proposed increased density in Waterloo if a new railway station on the Airport line could be constructed.
Social Mix - Will it solve the problems?: Improving 'social mix' is at the heart of NSW Government plans for Redfern Waterloo. Worldwide there have been many attempts to implement a better 'social mix' through the redevelopment of public housing estates. In Melbourne in 2010 a trumpeted development to improve 'social mix' in an inner city housing estate looks like it might lead to a wall to protect private housing amenity from the adjoining public tenants after the redevelopment. Here we have bought together some of the research and issues that will need to be addressed if an engineered improved housing mix is going to lead to improved outcomes for public tenants as well as the new residents in Redfern and Waterloo. The documents include papers given to the Shelter Conference ‘Estates in the balance’, relevant media articles and opinion pieces that open up some of the issues that need to be addressed. Thanks to Ross Smith for suppling much of the material.
Consultation & Community Engagement: One of the major issues in any proposed re-development is how consultation is undertaken. Does it provide a genuine opportunity for people to understand what is being proposed? Does the process allow for considered input? Is community feedback encouraged and properly considered? These are just some of the issues that need to be considered.
Local Research: Research is best done in a transparent manner recognising the vantage point from which it is being undertaken and the purposes for which it is intended or likely to be used. There has been tension for some time between local residents, organisations and government over research issues resulting from government failure to release earlier studies and a lack of belief in HNSW assurances that it will be different in this project. For the Redfern Waterloo Redevelopment HNSW set up a "Waterloo Community Learning & Research Project" which is independently chaired by Dr Judith Stubbs. Time will tell how this unfolds but initially HNSW undertook a baseline study without reference to the community and a University of Western Sydney Residents’ Voices project has been initiated independently of HNSW. Here we have gathered some of the information about research in Redfern Waterloo - see also section in Redevelopment on Social Mix.
Waterloo Concierge Trial: On 19 February 2010 the NSW Premier announced a $12 million three-year program – which includes "concierge" style front desk staff, on the ground maintenance teams, and extra security measures, especially at night - will be trialled at six Waterloo high-rise public housing buildings to improve safety for their 1,500 residents.
Elizabeth & Walker Streets Redfern Redevelopment: The plan for this redevelopment was announced in July 2002 as part of the DoH's decision to use privately funded redevelopment (see article in Redevelopment tab). In September 2003 the NSW Department of Housing wrote to residents formally informing them of what was planned in the development. The DoH could not get interest in the development as initially proposed and in May 2005 advised residents that they would try to gain interest by including the PCYC site in the development. Here we are collecting information about the Elizabeth Street development.
Matavi and Turunga Bed Sit Coversion: On 25th October 2005 Minister for Housing, Cherie Burton, announced $880,000 would be spent converting 28 bid sit units in Matavi and Turunga in Phillip Street, Waterloo into one bedroom apartments. While this is not a major development the undertakings given to residents will need to be honoured if public tenents are to have faith in undertakings given in larger developments.
Chamber of Commerce meets with Housing Minister - 20 Nov 2007: On Tuesday 20th November the Redfern Waterloo Chamber of Commerce met with Matt Brown the NSW Minister for Housing. The following Briefing Note was released following the meeting. The Briefing Note details some of the Chamber's concerns about issues which need to be adressed by the Department in Redfern Waterloo. File is 32KB PDF.
Media and Comment on HNSW Redevelopment Plans: For ease of access we have posted here media and comment articles dealing with the HNSW Preliminary Master Plan and other HNSW redevelopment plans for Redfern and Waterloo

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