Evelyn Morris is an 86-year-old Waterloo resident who has lived in Cooper Street for 27 years. She was an active tenant representative for many years until she lost mobility. On 26 March, she answered the door and received her six-month notice of relocation letter.
Her home is where Council’s new park will be built, but only the 99 tenancies on the western side of the park received notices. Evelyn has lots of questions that are not answered in the relocation factsheet she was given or the general information provided about the redevelopment. She thinks others will have similar questions.
Evelyn wants to know why she is being relocated when construction has not yet started in stage one to deliver the promised new social housing units to move into. Without new units, those wanting to stay locally will have to wait for suitable vacancies in existing social housing and that will take a long time.
For council facilities like the park, the Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) between Council and Homes NSW requires two years’ notice to Council before the development application so Council can prepare concept plans. The park development needs to follow within two years, setting out a four-year timeframe.
Council has advised that under the VPA the park has to be delivered before 50% of the permitted floor space is available for occupation. As no floor space has been built, Council does not believe the VPA puts pressure on the imminent relocation of residents within the proposed park.
Homes NSW and Stockland are responsible for staging and no rationale has been provided to SSH to explain the proposed relocations. This may be clearer after the Waterloo South Concept Plan exhibition expected within the next month.
Homes NSW has advised SSH that “Relocation of Phase 2 tenants has commenced to ensure Homes NSW has sufficient time to support tenants through this period of change and to identify suitable housing that meets each tenant’s individual needs. As many residents as possible will be relocated into newly developed homes, including new housing within Waterloo, as well as surrounding areas such as Redfern and Glebe”.
Details on relocations can be found at the bottom of the Homes NSW Waterloo South site.
Geoff Turnbull is the spokesperson for REDWatch
I guess this is when we begin to see commercial considerations trumping community considerations…
We all understand that commercial interests must be considered (whether we like it or not), but where is the collaborative planning process that brings all the other issues and stakeholders to the table?