Housing Minister Matt Brown said the new public and private
housing will replace 88 units in the block bounded by Walker,
Phillip, Moorhead
and Kettle Streets. More than 100 dwellings — 40 terrace houses with backyards
and 66 homes for the elderly — will be built in their place, with the private
housing site to front Elizabeth Street.
The development could be complimented by an Aboriginal Housing
Company proposal to knock down and rebuild notorious community housing on Eveleigh Street,
known as The Block.
While in early planning stages, the proposal would see a
multi-unit development built on Eveleigh
Street as well as an elders spiritual centre and
art gallery.
Redfern Waterloo Chamber of Commerce president Anthony
Larkings said the community welcomed the changing face of Redfern.
“We have always argued we need to have action in regard
to these things and we think this project looks fine,” Mr Larkings said.
“From our point of view, we need to make sure the
community are housed in the best way we can.
“This also allows new people to come into the area, as
long as we make sure people that were here have the right to come back, because
they are part of the community.”
Mr Larkings said the developments, along with other projects
like the Channel Seven Technical
Park project, would help
change people’s perceptions of the area.
“I’m quite excited about that, and I think it will be
good for perception rather than anything else,” he said.
“People see graffiti in Redfern and it’s a problem, but
they see it in Mosman and it’s not.
“We have always argued something needs to be done.
Rhetoric, or talk, achieves nothing.”
Housing Minister Matt Brown said the funding announcement
would rejuvenate an important part of Redfern by providing attractive homes for
tenants and opening up the area for new private development.
“There are currently 88 units on the site in 10
separate buildings, each two to four storeys high,” he said.
“These units, built in the 1950s, are no longer
suitable housing for our tenants and are also very expensive to maintain.”
Heffron MP Christine Keneally said the new housing would be
better suited to local people in need, like the frail and aged, people with a
disability and small families.
“There will be a mix of small, multistorey buildings,
with homes for elderly tenants and terrace houses with backyards for
families,” Ms Keneally said.
“What is also great about this project is that it is
the most environmentally sustainable Housing NSW development to date.”
The work to demolish the buildings and prepare the site is
expected to take four months, with construction to start in August.
The
housing is due for completion in December 2009, with tenants moving in around
February 2010.