Public housing residents in those suburbs will be sent letters today informing them that their estates have been earmarked for redevelopment under a plan that will receive $43 million in federal funding.

The federal Housing Minister, Tanya Plibersek, said no one would be asked to move immediately. She said the NSW Housing projects, to be announced today with the state's Housing Minister, Frank Terenzini, are about long-term urban renewal of rundown estates.

 

In Glebe, 15 brick apartment buildings in Cowper Street will be demolished and the site redeveloped with $9 million from the Housing Affordability Fund to include 92 affordable rental properties run by two community housing providers.

The south-western suburb of Claymore, the nation's most concentrated public housing estate, will receive $12.96 million in federal funds to redevelop vacant land, build roads and other infrastructure needed to create a mixed community that is attractive to private home buyers.

Of 1280 new homes and 774 vacant lots that will eventually be offered for sale at Claymore, 380 will be sold at a discount to attract new residents to the area. More than 100 public housing homes on the estate will be sold, with 384 retained.

''Some dwellings will stay public housing, some will become private homes,'' Ms Plibersek said. ''The accepted wisdom has been that public housing was only for the most needy people. Having a social mix, where people are also going to work each day, builds stronger communities.''

Urban design of 1960s estates that incorporated large, empty areas and housing turned away from streets and towards pathways had not worked as residents avoided the spaces because they felt unsafe. ''If you want people to use it you either have to have people there all the time or [use] passive surveillance,'' she said.

NSW Housing aims to repeat projects already under way in Bonnyrigg and Minto, where once welfare-dependent suburbs are being marketed with discount house and land packages to moderate-income buyers. The NSW government aims to have no more than 30 per cent public housing on any of the estates.

Ms Plibersek said government funding to reduce the price of homes would not only attract first-home buyers but provide opportunities to purchase for families who live in public housing and have established connections to the local community.

A small public housing estate of 70 homes in Chester Hill will swell to 700 mostly private dwellings because of its proximity to the railway network.

A plan to renew public housing in south Randwick aims for a total of 5000 private, public and new affordable homes in the next five years.

Another $3 million has been allocated for a masterplan to redevelop 1000 public housing dwellings in the Redfern and Waterloo areas.

Ms Plibersek said the Sydney projects approved under the second round of the Housing Affordability Fund will result in 7500 homes built five years ahead of schedule, increasing the supply of housing.

Glebe is within Ms Plibersek's Sydney electorate. She said of the project: "Being able to mix in not just public housing but affordable rental is healthy for the tenants, healthy for the surrounding neighbours and people feel safer.''

Housing officials will interview 130 public housing tenants in Glebe who will be given the choice of whether to resettle elsewhere or move back into the redeveloped estate.

The Glebe project, mooted by the City of Sydney and the NSW government some years ago, will also lead to the construction of new water and sewerage works, paths and cycleways.