By Megan Gorrey
More than half the Waterloo public housing estate in Sydney’s inner south has been rezoned by the state government to allow construction of 3000 social and private homes adjacent to the future metro train station following a two-year consultation period on the contentious redevelopment.
The change in zoning to allow for thousands of new apartments in the first stage of the $3 billion estate renewal, Waterloo South, pushes hundreds of vulnerable tenants one step closer to being forced from their homes, with the first residents expected to be moved from the site in early 2024.
An artist’s impression of the Waterloo South redevelopment, which includes thousands of social and private apartments to capitalise on the future metro train station.Credit:
The project to rebuild the 19-hectare Waterloo estate, built in the 1970s, has long been the subject of significant dispute between the state government, residents and the City of Sydney Council.
The redevelopment, affecting about 2000 tenants, is considered one of the largest social housing estate renewals in the world.
Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said the Waterloo South rezoning approval would allow for the provision of 847 social housing dwellings – nearly 100 more than the existing amount – and 227 affordable homes for low-income workers. Social housing includes public housing and community housing run by non-government providers. Nearly 2000 homes will be private dwellings.
The estate redevelopment has been separated into three “sub-precincts”. Waterloo South represents about 65 per cent of the site.Credit: NSW government
“The planning control changes mean we can begin the next stage of the project and support the delivery of new social and affordable housing, as well as private homes and new public space,” Roberts said.
“This is about breathing new life into an old social housing estate to support the needs of the growing number of people who call – or want to call – Waterloo home.”
Ten per cent of social and affordable homes will be dedicated Aboriginal housing. The plans include a 2.2-hectare public park next to the metro station, which is under construction.
There are about 750 existing social housing units spread across the 12-hectare southern section of the Waterloo estate, and 120 private units and houses.
Tenants will be provided with information on “relocation guidelines” by early 2023, the government says. They will receive at least six months’ notice to move.
The 30-storey Matavai and Turanga towers, as well as four 18-storey blocks, form later stages of the project.
Alongside the estate, more than 600 apartments are being built in several towers above the underground train station, due to open in 2024, for the “Waterloo Metro Quarter” development.
A Department of Planning and Environment spokesman said that development would include 70 social housing dwellings, due to be completed in 2024. The government is also building 95 social housing dwellings on Elizabeth Street in Redfern that are expected to be ready in 2027.
“Across the Metro Quarter, Elizabeth Street and Waterloo South that’s more than 1012 new and modern social homes, an increase of more than 260,” the spokesman said.
The decision to include a Waterloo stop on the city’s metro train line triggered plans to redevelop the estate. The station is due to open in 2024.Credit: Louise Kennerley
A NSW Department of Planning and Environment spokesman said the Land and Housing Corporation and the Department of Communities and Justice would support residents throughout the relocation process, which would be staged over multiple years to “minimise community impact”.
Land and Housing Corporation chief executive Simon Newport said a shortlist of renewal partner consortiums to develop Waterloo South would be finalised in coming weeks.
“We’re excited to keep this project moving – a renewal partner will deliver new buildings and infrastructure and collaborate with government to support residents through change, to create a vibrant and mixed inner-city community,” Newport said.
Roberts said all development applications lodged for the site would go through a “rigorous” assessment process, including further public consultation.
An artist’s impression showing the plans to redevelop the southern end of the estate. The overall project, affecting about 2000 tenants, is considered one of the largest social housing estate renewals in the world.
The rezoning represents something of a compromise between the Land and Housing Corporation’s original plan in 2018, which sought more than 6000 dwellings on the site, and the council’s push for less intensive development and more social, affordable and Indigenous housing.
Frustrated by delays, then-planning minister Rob Stokes intervened in the stand-off between the corporation and council by handing control of the planning process for the redevelopment to his department in 2021.
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