Community organisations, early in
the master planning process, negotiated these independent tenant support
positions with FACS/LAHC. The positions were initially delivered through
Counterpoint Community Services and Inner Sydney Voice with the Waterloo Public
Housing Action Group under the general umbrella of the Groundswell agencies.
In large LAHC redevelopment projects, community
development positions are common and continue through the full construction and
post construction life of the community. In Waterloo where LAHC funded the
positions for the Master Planning process the funding will now stop, even
though agencies have argued the positions are required long term as for other
existing major LAHC communities. By tying the positions to the master planning
LAHC does not need to continue to fund them after the master plan consultation.
Since LAHC produced its preferred plan, the agencies have fought to gain
funding extensions.
LAHC has not undertaken the promised
consultations about human services and community facilities. It has also not
consulted the community about the changes made in the new Waterloo South plan
and presumably, it also does not plan to consult on its revised plans for the
redevelopment of the existing Waterloo towers in Waterloo North and Central.
LAHC now has its Options testing
consultation report
to meet its planning requirements and with formal consultation on the rezoning being
undertaken by Council, LAHC feels there is no longer a need to fund these
positions.
The situation is compounded by the LAHC / FACS
split last year. Before the split, roles that had both a people and
redevelopment component were funded by FACS without having to negotiate who was
responsible for what between different departments.
FACS has historically funded community
development activities in Redfern and Waterloo in part through the UNSW
Community Development Project (CDP) and for a long-time through the Redfern and
Waterloo Housing Communities Project (HCP). The UNSW CDP was defunded leaving
activities like the community gardens to administer themselves. HCP was never
replaced when the Tenant Participation Resources Service (TPRS) was
restructured into the state-wide Mission Australia run Tenant Participation and
Community Engagement (TPCE). Since the TPCE restructure, not only were the
place based HCP activities lost, but according to many tenants a lot of the NAB
and tenant support functions have gone backwards from when they were supported
by local organisations.
The Waterloo redevelopment positions helped to
cover some holes left by the defunding of community development positions,
however since the separation, LAHC is retreating into a planning only cluster
and insisting it is the FACS successor, the Department of Communities and
Justice (DCJ) cluster that should handle all dealings with tenants.
The promised Waterloo Human Service Plan is
caught between the two Departments and now the Community Development roles look
also to be a victim of the split and LAHC’s retreat from the people part of
housing.
REDWatch is of the view that, as with the
Waterloo human services plan, LAHC and DCJ need to sit down and work out which
is taking responsibility for ongoing community development activities in
Waterloo. Nothing should be left to just fall between the FACS split cracks.
Ideally, there would be a transition plan from the old FACS structure to the
new separated LAHC / DCJ roles but we are not sure, given the discontinuation
of the earlier community development projects and what has happened with TPCE,
that DCJ sees a need for, or value in, local community development activity in
its largest public housing estate. LAHC may see the value in it, but not see it
as something LAHC should pay for.
The community has two weeks before we lose
staff, like Adam, Pam, Denise and Mila. The Waterloo Redevelopment Group will
lose its secretarial and tenant support. LAHC defunded the Capacity Building
position last December. These workers have built up relationships and trust
within the community. A solution urgently needs to be found!
As a post script: DCJ and LAHC need to be clear
that we are talking about two different roles for Waterloo; there is what is
needed for community development and there is what is needed to deliver a Human
Services Plan. They are not the same even though there is some overlap!
This item ran in the 16 June 2020 REDWatch Email Update