Norrie wanted this unit to be her ‘forever home’. Now, she has to move

More than 100 tenants have been handed eviction notices warning they must move within months to make way for the first stage of the $4 billion overhaul of the Waterloo public housing estate.

Vulnerable residents have since 2015 battled the state government’s plans to tear down about 750 public housing properties on the sprawling estate in Sydney’s inner south, and replace them with 3000 new homes, about half of which will be private apartments, near the new metro rail station.

Norrie May-Welby, 63, is among Waterloo residents whose homes will be demolished.Credit: Peter Rae

The government’s move to start relocating tenants in the next six months paves the way for the start of one of the most ambitious redevelopments in Sydney’s history, rivalling nearby Green Square.

Among those forced to leave is Norrie May-Welby, 63, who moved to the estate in 2018 hoping it would be her “forever home”.

“They did warn me we’d have to move when I got here, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected,” she said.

“I think these buildings are the same age as me; neither of us is ready to be knocked down.”

Homes NSW sent 147 tenants in the southern end of the estate a letter to inform them their property was “included in stage one relocations and to provide you with six months’ notice”.

The letter said they would receive help to be “relocated to another home in the local area or another area of choice”.

Dozens of residents protested the eviction notices and destruction of part of the housing estate on Saturday, bearing signs that read “no evictions of housing tenants” and “no demolition of public housing”.

May-Welby hopes to move into a new apartment above Waterloo metro station. She said about 70 tenants wanted to stay in the area, but they had “no clear answer” about their future.

The government has separated the estate into three sections: Waterloo South, which contains mostly low-rise housing, will be redeveloped in several stages over the next 10 to 15 years.

Waterloo residents are protesting the destruction of their homes for a mixed development of public and private dwellings.Credit: Peter Rae

Waterloo Central and Waterloo North, including the 30-storey Matavai and Turanga towers, will be revamped in later stages of the project.

The tenants with eviction notices live in about a dozen buildings bordered by John, Cope, McEvoy, and Mead streets. The notice said tenants would be able to choose where they moved if there were suitable properties in that area. It said there might be difficulties or delays in areas of high demand.

The government awarded the contract for the first stage of the project to a consortium led by property giant Stockland Link Wentworth Housing, City West Housing and Birribee last August.

Housing Minister Rose Jackson said all residents would have the right to return to the revamped housing estate.

“We recognise this process is unsettling, but Waterloo residents deserve modern, high-quality homes, better facilities and access to essential services.”

She said 70 new units above Waterloo metro station would be completed this year.

Greens housing spokeswoman and Newtown MP Jenny Leong said the evictions represented “an appalling betrayal of trust and principle” from Labor, which had rallied against public housing privatisation by the former Coalition government.

“Bulldozing an estate that is currently 100 per cent public housing and replacing it with a watered-down mix of public, community, and market housing while 63,000 households languish on the public housing waiting list is unconscionable,” she said.

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