South Sydney Herald is concerned that Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ formally FACS) have not confirmed their commitment to the delivery of a Waterloo human services plan in parallel with the master plan.
Representatives of Groundswell met with LAHC and DCJ staff in late February and had constructive discussions but did not get a definitive response as to whether LAHC and FACS still had a commitment to deliver the previously agreed Waterloo human services plan.
Counterpoint, Inner Sydney Voice and the broader Groundswell agencies (Redfern Legal Service, Fact Tree Youth Service, Tenants Union NSW, Shelter NSW and REDWatch) are hence seeking formal clarity that the previous undertakings to produce a human services plan in parallel with the Waterloo master plan will be honoured.
The human services plan has been on the agenda since August 2017 when REDWatch formally requested such a plan from FACS Executive members. The request said, “For REDWatch, however, time is of the essence as we could not support a master plan for Waterloo without a comprehensive human services plan accompanying it.”
Since then there have been a number of workshops with agencies to develop such a plan as well as discussions and presentations to Waterloo Redevelopment Group.
It becomes increasingly difficult for tenants and those advocating for them to have confidence in the government when these quotes from LAHC to tenants or service providers have been so often repeated.
LAHC Response to Groundswell November 2017: The SS [Social Sustainability] study including the human services plan will adopt the NSW Human Services Outcomes Framework which will be used to guide the provision of social and community infrastructure and services associated with the redevelopment.
Waterloo Human Services Plan Consultations with Residents and Human Services – Connect Consulting July 2018: “In order to support the health, safety, economic, social and wellbeing outcomes of Waterloo residents prior to and throughout the redevelopment, FACS committed, in 2017, to developing and implementing a Waterloo human services framework.”
Waterloo redevelopment options brochure September 2018: “Human services plan is also being developed to support residents’ health, safety and wellbeing.”
Waterloo masterplan brochure: In 2019 FACS will focus on: • developing a human services plan to support resident health, safety and wellbeing and to meet their changing needs before, during and after redevelopment. • developing a community facilities plan to identify the appropriate allocation of community facilities ensuring operational arrangements are sustainable over time.
There is also still no certainty about whether the tenancies in the rebuilt public housing at Waterloo will be managed by the state government or whether a Community Housing Provider will be appointed.
