LAHC post zoning planning.
With the exhibition for Waterloo South finalised in the first half of 2022 Land and Housing Corporation are starting the tendering process and planning for the early stages of the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate. This includes contamination drilling on Waterloo South expected in August 2022 and planning for relocations and project delivery. LAHC are responsible during this stage of the redevelopment until contracts are entered into with a development consortium involving a developer, financing and a Community Housing Provider (CHP) that will run the new social housing. This section of the website deals with announcements and activities relating to this part of the redevelopment process.
At this REDWatch meeting on 5 June 2023, Tanya Plibersek, the Federal member for Sydney presents on the Federal Labor Government's housing policy. Responses and comments from both the NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson and the President of the Australian Local Government Association, Linda Scott follow. At the start of the Q&A session (25 minutes) Rose Jackson provides an update on the NSW government's approach to public housing redevelopment and Waterloo. The file is an audio m4a file that will need to be downloaded to play.
This is a de-identified copy of a letter received by some tenants from the Member for Heffron, Mr Ron Hoenig MP. The letter makes reference to Mr Honig's speech in the Legislative Assembly on 25 May 2023 which can be seen at the following link - https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1323879322-131169 . The letter reiterates the Housing Minister Rose Jackson's comments to REDWatch on 5 June that the Government expects to be in a position in about a month to better understand what they might be able to do to improve the Waterloo South proposal.
On 20 July The Housing Minister held a consultation with invited organisations to get feedback on principles for the formation of Homes NSW. Further consultations are proposed. REDWatch is making available some of the details of the July consultation to encourage tenants, those on the waiting list and services to consider what they might want to say to the Minister about what should be stopped, what should be started and what should be continued. Below is what was supplied to participants at the 20 July Consultation.
In this letter distributed to Waterloo Estate tenants on Saturday 19 August, Housing Minister Rose Jackson advised tenants that the Waterloo South LAHC redevelopment would now see 30% social and 20% affordable housing delivered. In addition a minimum of 15% of both kinds of housing would be dedicated to Aboriginal people. The relocations process has been delayed until mid-2024 with six months’ notice still being given for those initially required to move. The letter provided no details of how the government will fund the changes. REDWatch welcomes this letter being distributed to tenants before the media anouncement.
Below is the text of the media release issued by Action for Public Housing, a grassroots collective of tenants and supporters who organise to defend and extend public housing, in response to the revised targets for the Waterloo South public housing redevelopment.
Below is how Counterpoint Community Services advised their newsletter readers about the Government announcement to increase the quantity of social and affordable housing in Waterloo South on 21 August 2023.
This is the media release from The Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Housing that was issued about the increased targets for the Waterloo South housing redevelopment.
Below is an updated REDWatch response to the announcement of new social and affordable housing targets for Waterloo South announced publicly on 21 August 2023. Some changes have been made to the initial response to reference additional material and responses as well as to cover comments made at today's media conference.
REDWatch has undertaken an analysis of the numbers for different tenure types in Waterloo South. The figures used are the minimum figures from the rezoning, and ministerial announcements on 4 November 2022 and 21 August 2023. While all care has been taken it is possible the spreadsheet contains errors so please check yourself and advise if any errors are found. At the media conference today the Housing Minister dismissed the suggestion that there would only be a 53 unit increase in social housing. These figures substantiate the basis for that calculation.
This is the Shelter NSW media release on the announcement to increase the social and affordable housing on Waterloo South.
This feedback overview was provided to attendees at a workshop for government and non-government organisations on 11 October 2023. It gives a very high overview of what LAHC heard from consultations about it People and Place framework. Concern has been expressed by some NGOs including REDWatch that the report does not adequately reflect the input from NGOs at previous meetings. As an example the "Community Plan workshop" report on page 27 makes no changes to the strongly criticised four sheets shown.
This newsletter was distributed to Waterloo public housing tenants in October 2023. It provides an update on the redevelopment of Waterloo South after the increase in social and affordable housing to 50% and some reporting on meetings with tenants in Waterloo South and responses to some of the rumours that were raised. It also has an update on the Waterloo Human Services Action Pls\an dealing with the current issues facing tenants.
This media statement of 13 November 2023 sets out the major changes proposed to public housing maintenance to come into effect mid 2024. This was a major focus of many questions to the Minister for Homes NSW and the CEO at the REDWatch meeting of 5 February 2024.
Eight years into the Waterloo redevelopment there has still not been a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), it is not required until the first Development Application (DA) probably in 2025. The Department of Planning undertook a SIA for the rezoning of public housing at Explorer Street Eveleigh in 2023 using the state government’s SIA requirements as part of a joint SIA and Social infrastructure study. As the Eveleigh site has an existing public housing community that will be impacted, the findings of that SIA portion gives us a good starting point to think about what should be covered in a Waterloo SIA. The social infrastructure element of the Eveleigh report is site specific and is not readily comparable to Waterloo.
LAHC letter of 5 December 2023 to tenants regarding short listing of Stockland and Lendlease consortia for the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate. This letter was distributed prior to media announcement in line with LAHC commitment to tenants.
LAHC have announced that the Stockland and Lendlease consortia have been shortlisted to undertake the Waterloo public housing redevelopment with a final decision on the successful tenderer expected mid 2024.
The Government has just announced the new head of Homes NSW which is to start operation on 1 February 2024. Homes NSW will be established within the department of Communities and Justice. The text of the DCJ media release of 21 December 2023 is provided below.
This message to tenants from Minster Jackson was sent on February 1 2024 on the launch of Homes NSW. The email also contains a link to a Homes NSW information page at www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/homes-nsw. More information will be available at the REDWatch meeting on February 5th 2024.
This is the media statement of 2 February 2024, issued by Minister Rose Jackson, about the launching of Homes NSW.
This PDF contains the Fact Sheet and the Services diagram provided by Homes NSW to the REDWatch meeting on 5 February 2024 on the establishment of Homes NSW. This meeting with Minister Jackson and senior staff was recorded and can be viewed on REDWatch_Redfern-Waterloo YouTube at https://youtu.be/5nh_20Y3Xro?si=80HyXjidBZoy8am5