The North Eveleigh Clothing Store Precinct will be transferred to Homes NSW for the delivery of 500 new homes, half of which will be social and affordable homes. Homes NSW own and run public housing, Aboriginal housing and some key worker housing across NSW. It also has responsibility for delivering more affordable housing.
The precinct already is home to the Platform Apartments, 88 affordable housing apartments delivered in 2015, by City West Housing.
Housing groups have been calling for the building of new social and affordable housing on vacant government land in preference to redeveloping existing estates where housing stock gains are often small. If delivered in similar ratios to Waterloo South, this redevelopment would deliver the same number of additional social homes as that redevelopment.
In the NSW budget the Minns government committed to build up to 30,000 well-located homes across NSW and also allocated $5.1 billion for new social housing with 50% of new homes built for victim-survivors of family and domestic violence. The budget and this announcement was based on a state-wide audit of government land that could be used for housing. The Clothing Store precinct is among the first of these sites that have been announced.
The Clothing Store Precinct has a long history. It was previously part of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. It was zoned primarily residential in 2006 with heights of 4 to 10 storeys. In 2008 the heights increased to 4 to 12 storeys residential as part of the approved concept plan for North Eveleigh. UrbanGrowth NSW developed a proposal for 4 to 20 storey residential buildings on the site in 2015 but this proposal was abandoned after community opposition to the increased heights.
The existing 4 to 12 storey controls were taken to market in 2022 by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) after further work with the community, including around potential non-residential uses for the Clothing Store building. TfNSW called for expressions of interest for the site based on a 99-year lease rather than sale. That proposal was for build-to-rent housing with 15 per cent to be affordable. Four proponents were shortlisted in March 2023 but the process did not proceed with the change of government.
The Homes NSW proposal for 500 homes across the entirety of the Clothing Store precinct is in keeping with the controls taken to market in 2022. Homes NSW says it will build on the earlier studies and work on this site including retaining the provisions for open space and parks as per previous engagement with the community. The Minister for Homes NSW, Rose Jackson, has promised consultation with the community over Homes NSW planning for the site.
You can see the media release for the Clothing Store announcement here: Building Homes for New South Wales: First sites identified.
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Geoff Turnbull is the spokesperson for REDWatch.
