Setting up Thursday night’s
REDWatch meeting on “Build to Rent” was a bit like an episode of the TV program
Utopia. LAHC had confirmed it would attend and tell people about the “Build to
Rent” model, but a couple of days before the meeting Expressions of Interest
(EOIs) for “Build to Rent” options on Elizabeth Street went up on the NSW
Tender website. LAHC then advised it was unable to talk publically about the
model. With ‘Straight Talk’ due to start consultation on the Redfern site this
month it also threw into question how its staff could talk to the community
about the Elizabeth Street site. Thursday afternoon LAHC posted a presentation
about “Build to Rent” on Elizabeth Street – Communities Plus Build-to-Rent Redfern Presentation on the
Redfern Communities Plus website. The presentation has some new information but
not all the information on the public record. For the REDWatch meeting we also
had to use the Channel
9 report on the Redfern Build to Rent announcement to cover off the main
elements. Together these allowed REDWatch rather than FACS, to present what was
in the public domain about the model. Chris Martin from UNSW City Futures, who
is researching the Build to Rent model, and Ned Cutcher, from Shelter, then
talked about the Build to Rent model.
LAHC is planning to start
Visioning for the Redfern site later in August and hopefully by then will be
able to produce a comprehensive Q&A sheet which will meant that Straight
Talk can have a conversation with the community within the limits of the
tender. We have suggested to LAHC that the information about the model that
LAHC has released to potential bidders should be released also to the
community.
You should raise any questions
you have with the model with the consultants who we understand will provide
written responses that can also be provided to tenders. Such problems can be
avoided by doing community consultation before going out formally to the
market! UrbanGrowth will not be involved in the planning for Elizabeth Street.
It will be handled by different consultants and different LAHC project staff to
those in Waterloo. There is a lot of interest in “Build to Rent” as a
possibility in Waterloo as it could deliver new social housing while retaining
public land for future social housing use as the land reverts to government
after 40 years.
Source: REDWatch Email Update 5 August 2018.