The state government’s plans to “renew” the Redfern-Waterloo area involves consulting with the community in groups, but residents and agency operators are questioning the process and its effectiveness.
The precinct currently provides 3,500 public housing dwellings and accommodates about 15 per cent of the City’s population.
Since January, the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority (SMDA) took over from the now defunct Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) and is conducting interest-specific focus groups.
The Authority defines itself as: “the agency responsible for driving housing and employment opportunities in Redfern Waterloo, working in partnership with other government agencies and key stakeholders to implement urban renewal initiatives.”
The SMDA’s latest series of forums is for drawing up a Social Impact and Scoping Assessment of the precinct, a report to help the government dodge adverse planning decisions.
The social assessment is one of five information gathering channels which will shape the Draft Built Environment Plan Stage Two or BEP2.
The Draft BEP2 proposes mixed accommodations including 2,800 public housing dwellings, 700 affordable homes and 3,500 private residences to be supplied over the next 25 years.
Spokesperson for RedWatch, Geoff Turnbull attended a focus group for private residents and said he was concerned the government agency viewed more diverse housing as the solution to the area’s crime and public safety issues.
“That’s not necessarily the case because it’s more about management. We could end up with the same or a worse situation,” he said.
“Saying we will have a few less public housing, doesn’t address the management for human services and the allocation of high-needs tenants.”
The scant supply of public housing has pushed up the requirements of tenants so only those in need of several welfare services qualify, he said.
“The analysis keeps missing out on the fact that social disadvantage is increasingly enclosed in public housing.”
Mr Turnbull said a “place-based approach” where the government observes the service needs of a community and provides integrated delivery, is needed.
“Clients ricochet backwards and forwards between government agencies – the Department of Health, DOCs – and they all have individual discussions with the client rather than starting with the person and deciding on a suite of suitable services.”
Executive director of The Factory Community Centre, Michael M Shreenan said he was concerned by the area’s projected population boost of 50 per cent on social housing sites.
“There is currently no plan on how any of the proposed redevelopment and the associated community infrastructure will be funded.”
Those at the focus group for NGO representatives expressed a need for a demographic study to anticipate future service and facility needs, he said.
“At the moment most of our input is based on our best guess rather than from an informed point of view, this makes it extremely challenging when giving the correct advice to Government.”
