The RWA has committed to facilitating the provision
of new dwellings over the next 10 years to provide affordable housing for
Aboriginal residents of Redfern-Waterloo.
These dwellings are proposed to be in addition to any
housing currently owned or proposed to be privately developed by the Aboriginal
Housing Company on AHC land on and around the Block in Redfern.
Taking the initiative, the RWA will provide seed
funding of $1 million this financial year and a further $15 million will be
committed from affordable housing contributions, to be derived from future
development carried out in accordance with section 30 of the Redfern-Waterloo
Authority Act 2004.
The Minister and the RWA will consult extensively
with the broader Aboriginal community, including the Aboriginal Housing
Company, on matters such as future governance and acquisition strategies,
however management of the new housing infrastructure will be based on the following
principles:
- the promotion of highly professional administrative standards
- the achievement of real outcomes of genuine benefit to the
Aboriginal community - the promotion of accountability and probity
- broad representativeness
- the promotion of Aboriginal capacity building
The RWA will commence discussions shortly with the
Commonwealth Government in accordance with the terms of the Commonwealth/State Redfern-Waterloo
Partnership Agreement, which was signed by the Minister for Redfern-Waterloo, Frank Sartor,
and the Commonwealth Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs, Mal Brough, in June 2006.
Under the Partnership Agreement, the two governments
have committed to “work together to support the provision of affordable Indigenous
housing in Redfern-Waterloo”.
Based on the 2001 Census, out of a total of 714
residents of Redfern and Waterloo,
only 6 Indigenous households are fully owned or being purchased.
Moreover, 78.9% of Indigenous households in Redfern
and 91% in Waterloo
are public housing.
Development contributions in excess of the funds
committed to Aboriginal housing will be directed towards affordable housing
initiatives for the broader community.
You can download the original PDF Fact Sheet 4 (pdf~17kb)