In October 2012 the Department of Housing had commissioned Cred Community Planning to prepare the Social Impact Assessment.
In gathering information for the report, Cred consulted with 152 residents and balanced their concerns with the substantial budget concerns of Housing NSW. Through their involvement with the SIA study there was a sense in the community that their concerns would be addressed.
This feeling of involvement came to an abrupt end when the Cred Social Impact Assessment was released on March 19, 2014, the same day that Millers Point residents were notified, by a hand-delivered letter, that all the social housing in Millers Point would be sold.
The government’s response to the SIA recommendations, released after the sale announcement to remove public housing tenants totally, has left the Millers Point community feeling that their concerns were not recognised in the government’s decision-making process. This has worrying implications for how the current government may treat the concerns of vulnerable stakeholders in future planning legislation.
Contrary to these recommendations, NSW Family and Community Services stated that they would not be specific about how funds from divestment would be used, that they would not commit to using these funds to replace the public housing lost in Millers Point with new public housing within inner Sydney and that they could not enable older residents to retain connections with their local community.
There is a sense in the Millers Point community that the government has ignored the Cred report with the decision to sell the Millers Point properties. Millers Point resident Patricia Cowora pointed out that this is just one in a string of studies that the community feels have had little positive effect on their treatment.
The Auditor-General’s report, “Making the best use of public housing”, was published in July 2013 and warned that if short-sighted practices do not change, the quality and quantity of public housing will continue to decline.
In November 2013, the Select Committee on Social, Public, and Affordable Housing was established to inquire into and report on demand for social, public and affordable housing in NSW. The Millers Point Public Housing Tenants Group made their submission to the committee in February 2014, just a month before they were blindsided by eviction letters. The Select Committee report is not even scheduled to be released until September 2014.
The purpose of SIAs is to ensure that the social impacts of development are taken into account. The current government’s treatment of these reports sets a dangerous precedent for what future planning legislation might look like.
