70% of Explorer Street public housing to be privatised under state government’s Rezoning Pathways Program

By LAUREN FROST

The City of Sydney Council has been thrown to the wayside by the Government’s Rezoning Pathways Program.

The inclusion of Explorer Street, Eveleigh in the program means that planning and development decisions for the area will no longer be a Council matter. Instead, the state’s planning department, The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE), will be in the driver’s seat.

Not Enough Public Housing

The decision is particularly controversial as Explorer Street, Eveleigh includes a public housing estate.

City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott put forward an urgency motion in a local planning panel Council meeting regarding the decision to include Eveleigh in the Rezoning Pathways Program earlier in the week.

“Critically, the housing renewal project is aiming, as via announcement from the Government, to deliver 4250 new homes, of which only 1260 will be social housing,” Cr Scott said.

“Lord Mayor, let me be very clear, they are taking a site that is 100% public housing and turning it into a site where less than 30% of the total dwellings planned for the site are social housing, and they are trying to smash it through before a state election.”

Cr Scott put forward a motion to enable The City of Sydney to advocate for a substantial proportion of social and affordable housing on the Explorer Street redevelopment site.

In addition to that, Cr Scott also asked that Lord Mayor, Clover Moore “write to the planning minister to request planning powers be reinstated to the City of Sydney for the Explorer Street social housing site in Eveleigh, and for all other social and affordable housing sites in the future”

The motion was carried through unanimously with further amendments to advocate for the preservation of affordable family housing, as well as for the Lord Mayor to write to the opposition in addition to the planning minister.

History Repeating

Unfortunately, the selling of public land that includes social and affordable housing to developers is a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, the rezoning of the nearby Waterloo Estate social housing blocks was also pried from Council by the state government.

“They have done it time and time again,” Cr Scott commented in the Council meeting after the Lord Mayor remarked that the same situation unfolded in Waterloo.

“In Waterloo, the rezoning was taken over by a team within the State Significant Development Application assessment section of DPE. Being the Planning Proposal Authority was not their main job and they did not have the experience and expertise to deal with the community.” A spokesperson for community group, REDWatch told CityHub.

There are concerns from both Council and the community that forcibly removing Council from planning decisions at the Eveleigh site will mean that community concerns are not adequately addressed, especially those in relation to social and affordable housing.

“The state government look at sites in isolation and not in the context of the surrounding communities and wider City planning. The City of Sydney has one of the best resourced Planning Departments in Australia and it has the skills to undertake rezoning in a manner that delivers the growth required by the State Government but in a way that better fits with the surrounding areas,” the REDWatch spokesperson said.

Following the announcement in 2020 that Explorer Street, Eveleigh would be redeveloped, residents of the area rallied against the large proportion of privatisation on a housing site that is currently 100% public housing.

These community concerns have long been echoed by Jenny Leong MP, Greens Member for Newtown, and Housing Spokesperson.

“We know that rezoning plans like this break apart established communities and do little to address housing unaffordability,” Leong said.

“We’re already seeing it in the Waterloo public housing estate, where redevelopment will see 70% of the site privatised – and we all know the devastating impact the sell-off of Millers Point public housing had.”

“Where sites are currently 100% public housing there can be no justification for reducing that share,” said Leong.

Privatising 70% of what was previously established as entirely public housing seems like a step backwards amidst the current housing crisis. Further, the removal of power from local governments and communities means that the future of social and affordable housing on these sites is incredibly unclear.

“We are in the middle of a housing crisis, with an unprecedented demand for social and affordable homes in inner Sydney,” Lord Mayor, Clover Moore said.

“Affordable rental housing supports a diverse and well-functioning city. For people on lower incomes, it provides a critical alternative to private market housing, providing an opportunity to live in the city.”