Despite promising that there will be no cuts to the amount
of public housing, the NSW Government has failed to convince long-time public
housing tenants that they will not be disadvantaged under its urban renewal
plans.
The redevelopments, first announced in February last year,
consist of plans to “improve existing public housing stock” and promote “mixed
housing” in the area. The Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) and the Department
of Housing (DoH) have said in October that they will work together to boost
human services and conduct community consultation to ensure a smooth
transition.
Local community group REDWatch believes there is a lack of
transparency as the authorities enter into Stage 2 of the Built Environment
Plan (BEP). The group has urged members of the community to make submissions to
the RWA before the plans are due to be exhibited in March 2008.
“The whole consultation process is not as transparent as
we’d like to see it,” REDWatch member Geoff Turnbull said. “The RWA has been
speaking to individuals rather than groups of people, so no one knows what
other people have said.”
According to Mr Turnbull, there are also questions that
remain unanswered. “When the RWA says it’s not going to decrease the number of
public housing in the area, are they referring to the number of public tenants
in the area or the number of units in the area?”
Mr Turnbull pointed out that according to the 2006 figures
from Housing NSW, there is a clear mismatch between housing and family sizes –
potentially leading to significant reshuffling of existing tenants after the
redevelopment.
“Over time, the demographics have gone from larger families
in public housing down to smaller ones because of a growing number of
single-parent families and elderly residents. There are more three- and
four-bedroom units but the demand is for smaller units,” he said.
Local public housing tenant Ross
Smith has fears that the impending changes can lead to
fragmenting of the community.
“If we go to a redevelopment phase, community ties will be
broken,” Mr Smith said. “You’re shifting people away from the services they’re
used to – the local doctor who knows the family, the butcher in the shopping
centre they socialise with – all of this has an adverse impact on individuals
and families.”
Mr Smith also noted the concept of “mixed housing” is likely
to be difficult to make work in practice because of the polarity of
demographics in the Waterloo
area.
“Public housing is now increasingly concentrated on people
with extremely high needs, and there are not enough human services to cater for
those individuals. Non-public housing tenants and private home owners are less
likely to tolerate anti-social behaviours from the high-need tenants,” Mr Smith
said.
Former NSW Greens candidate for Heffron, Ben Spies-Butcher, said that with the influx of
private home dwellers in the Waterloo
area, the falling proportion of public housing can create disadvantage for
existing residents.
“This process can leave public housing tenants more marginalised
and create political pressure for further gentrification which might see public
housing eventually pushed out of the inner city,” Mr Spies-Butcher said. “By
all means we need to have urban consolidation, but we do oppose the process of
urban consolidation that places all the burden of that process on public
housing tenants and does so with profit motives in mind.”
Photo: Ali Blogg: New developments in Waterloo
Source: South Sydney Herald December 2007 www.southsydneyherald.com.au/