SOCIAL and affordable housing will make up half of the 420 homes to be delivered in the Riverwood social housing estate, after the Minns government revived and revised the south west Sydney project.
Plans are now on public exhibition from after the Minns heavily redrew redevelopment plans for St George area social housing estate, with an emphasis on delivering infrastructure such as a new internal road, improved public domain, a new childcare centre to replace the existing facility, and potentially retail.
The previous NSW government released plans 18 months ago for 3,900 private and social dwellings to be developed on 30 hectares at the estate. The apartments and terrace homes, in buildings ranging from three to 12 storeys, were to be delivered over 15 to 20 years. About 30% would be public housing and the balance private. The previous government cancelled those plans; there had been concerns at community and government level that there was not sufficient infrastructure to cope with the amount of new residents.
The government’s initial proposal of 6,000 homes has already been reduced following consultation. Currently, there are nearly 1,100 ageing social housing dwellings on the estate, built in the 1960s and 1970s.
The NSW social housing waitlist is currently sitting at around 57,600.
“The new scope will enable a quicker delivery of more housing and addresses community concerns raised on the potential impact on local traffic and community facilities,” Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said.
“This new approach will allow hundreds of new and affordable homes to be built in a well-located area without overwhelming local roads and services.
“We will continue to look at all options to build more social housing in Riverwood as fast as possible.”
The rezoning process for focus area along Belmore Road will follow previous renewal work at Washington Park, as well as current technical studies and concepts for redevelopment contained within the 2022 exhibited masterplan.
The start date – 1st July – is nearing for the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which aims to deliver 20,000 new social and 10,000 new affordable homes spread across the country over five years. Concurrently, the National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF) aims to deliver 10,000 new affordable homes over five years, while the $2 billion National Social Housing Accelerator is underway. As part of the Accelerator, NSW has an allocation of delivering 1,500 households at an estimated cost of more than $610 million, and which the government forecasts will dampen wait list numbers by around 3%.
Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said “scrapped plans to deliver more homes and a social housing waitlist with more than 55,000 people in need is the shameful legacy left by the former government”.
“Our new plan will deliver 50% social and affordable housing. I have always said, our 30% commitment is the baseline, we want to deliver more mix-tenure properties that have more social and affordable homes for people in need.”
Liberal Federal Member for Banks, David Coleman told the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader that the revised plans for Riverwood estate said the government would continue to work on the “broader masterplan”. He said the map for the plans showed that the rezoning only relates to a small portion of the site.
“So seems clear that this 420 is just the first instalment in what will be a much bigger number,” he said.
The target date for the rezoning of the first stage is early-to-mid 2024.
