[North Eveleigh] TU on new tenancy laws at REDWatch / Waterloo South Issues / North Eveleigh Build a Bridge & Help Needed

[Geoff Turnbull (REDWatch Spokesperson)]

Dear REDWatch members, supporters and agencies,


Changes to NSW Tenancy Laws - Tenants' Union @ REDWatch 3rd July

Waterloo South - What to expect as the Consortium starting point

Use of Vacant Waterloo South Public Housing for "Meanwhile Use"?

Proposed cut to exhibition times and community voices - Until 17 July

2019 Waterloo Health Impact Assessment now public

Build a Bridge - The promised Eveleigh bridge that will not die

Help needed for website and social media for Build a Bridge
Please note - this email contains hyperlinks. This means that if you see a blue underlined word or phrase that you can click on it and go directly to a document or to get more information.
Changes to NSW Tenancy Laws - Tenants' Union @ REDWatch 3rd July
Major tenancy laws changes are now in effect! The long-awaited changes end `no grounds' evictions, make it easier to keep a pet in a rental home and limit rent increases to once per year for all lease types.
The Tenants' Union has been leading the push for these changes so come along to the REDWatch meeting on Thursday 3rd July to hear from the Tenants' Union NSW and learn more about these changes that impact both private and social housing tenants. Everyone welcome and bring your tenancy questions.
The meeting will be on Thursday 3rd July 2025 at Counterpoint's Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan Street, Waterloo or join us on line via Zoom http://tinyurl.com/RedwatchMeetingZoom. You can promote this meeting with this flyer<http://www.redwatch.org.au/eventnotice/250703redwp> or sharing details from our Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/> .
If you can't wait you can see more about these changes on the Tenants' Union Website - Tenancy law has changed in NSW<https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/law-change>.
Waterloo South - What to expect as the Consortium starting point
Back in May REDWatch provided links to the planning proposal for Waterloo South so people could refresh their memories about what was decided. The starting point for the Consortium is the Approved Planning proposal which sets the Planning Controls that the Consortium need to address in its plan. You can see the outcome of that in summary form  at Waterloo South - Priority growth areas and precincts page<https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/priority-growth-areas-and-precincts/waterloo-south> and with more detailed requirements in the final package of the Waterloo (South) Planning Page site<https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/ppr/finalisation/waterloo-estate-south>.
We have since realised that a surface reading of some of the documents will not give you an accurate overview of what has already been decided. This is because some things are not clear in the documents and because the goal posts for social and affordable housing have changed since then.
We have provided on the REDWatch website some presentation slides that we shared at the Waterloo Redevelopment group, which may help also explain what has changed - see REDWatch Refresher on the Waterloo South Planning Proposal - 18 June 2025<http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/Waterloo/stage1/250605redwpres/view>. The presentation slides cover a bit more than we have here, including pointing out that the artist impressions and design guide are built around only one possibility for what the planning controls could deliver.
The Waterloo South Planning Proposal was put together in the expectation that any design excellence uplift would be within the heights and floorspace shown on the LEP maps. The Government decided that the 10% extra floor space would be a bonus on top of that shown on the floorspace map, but heights would not change. So suddenly everything became 10% bigger than what was envisaged in the design guide. The tower on Cope Street would need to fit the equivalent of 3.3 extra storeys of apartments into the width of the tower while meeting design excellence.
This puts pressure on the control envelopes and potentially on the areas around the buildings for tree retention and new deep soil plantings.
The other major change was that the incoming Labor Government changed the Social Housing requirements from the 28.2% in the controls to 30% and the affordable housing requirements from 7% to 20%. The Consortium has subsequently announced that in its proposal 20% of Social Housing delivered will be dedicated to Aboriginal people which is up from 15% of social and affordable housing for Aboriginal people in the controls.
So the bottom line with these changes, the Waterloo South redevelopment can increase from 3012 units up to 3,313 units. If everything meets design excellence, these the controls would allow up to a minimum of 994 Social Housing Units (the Consortium says it will deliver 1000), 663 Affordable Housing Units. Of these, around 200 units need to be Aboriginal Social Housing and 100 would be Aboriginal Affordable Housing. Which leaves a balance of about 1656 private units.
The units numbers might be a bit elastic as the breakup in the controls are actually based on proportions of the total floorspace but they are the guide used in the controls.
The Consortium will have looked at what it thinks it can fit within the controls, and what controls it might need to change. A lot of work will have already been done in preparing the bid.
Under the planning proposal the developer needs to put together a Stage 1 (Concept) Development Application (DA) for all of Waterloo South; this will probably be accompanied by a proposal to change the design guide and any LEP planning controls it thinks should be changed. It will also likely prepare a more detailed Development Application (DA) for the first part of the estate to be redeveloped.
In the next couple of months Stockland and the Consortium will start talking to the community about what the community would like to see, and about what Stockland has put together for its bid. Stockland will need to apply for study requirements from the Department of Planning as well as to bring consultants on board to do the various studies. Stockland will undertake pre-lodgement consultations before submitting its proposals for a formal exhibition.
Use of Vacant Waterloo South Public Housing for "Meanwhile Use"?
As part of Homes NSW trying to maximise the use of its properties, it has put in place Planning changes to speed up 'Meanwhile Use' accommodation<https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/planning-changes-to-speed-up-meanwhile-use-accommodation> , which allows vacant buildings to be repurposed for temporary or crisis accommodation for those in most urgent need. Last year Homes NSW entered into an arrangement with Bridge Housing to use some units waiting for redevelopment in Glebe in this way - see Inner-city Sydney vacant housing to be used for crisis accommodation for people seeking shelter<https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/vacant-sydney-housing-to-be-used-as-crisis-accommodation>. This site is now being redeveloped and Homes NSW says this practical use of vacant properties to provide immediate shelter and support can work in other parts of Sydney and NSW<https://www.linkedin.com/posts/homes-nsw_nswgovernment-socialhousing-housingcrisis-activity-7342705178820694016-eiIG?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA0OtUYBpxp_z1nS6OcOEaohVt7X5qEXkeU>.
With 150 properties becoming vacant after relocations in Stage 1 of Waterloo South, and redevelopment still a long way off, we wait to see what Homes NSW does with the vacant buildings in Waterloo. Will one of the Stockland Community Housing Providers undertake a similar "meanwhile use" project in Waterloo or can Bridge move its project and experience in Glebe into Waterloo while waiting for the buildings to be pulled down?
Proposed cut to exhibition times and community voices - Until 17 July
The Department of Planning is proposing changes to the Community Participation Plan<https://cl.S10.exct.net/?qs=11688f64cb04006c8b531bf95b4f5634d90d065dade3a0e1d5e464e8c9df7a9e2aec66ae762723e7c3c7ac0aa87a5ec33725c06d61050e2f> to change the minimum public exhibition period from 28 days to 14 days, for relevant residential State Significant Development applications.
The reduced exhibition times impact many housing developments the government is looking to accelerate, including those carried out by certain public authorities like Homes NSW. It covers in-fill affordable housing, build-to-rent housing, seniors housing and accelerated Transport Oriented Development precincts. Developments by Homes NSW that cost more than $30 million and result in more than 75 dwellings are specifically covered.
The Department says the proposal aims to streamline the assessment process for critical housing projects, while continuing to give the community meaningful opportunities to provide input during the public exhibition period. The latter REDWatch disputes.
These proposed changes potentially impact consultation times for public housing sites including Waterloo. The community pushed for an extension on the statutory 28 days for the Waterloo Planning Proposal and REDWatch would see 14 days as totally inappropriate for any future public exhibition in Waterloo or any other public housing estate.
Given the volume of the reports dished up for each of the Planning Proposals and State Significant DAs in our area, even Council with full time paid staff have difficulty meeting existing deadlines. For community groups that meet monthly and rely on volunteers, 14 days would be impossible. Most groups will monitor potential DAs and get on to them quickly, but for many of those who might be impacted, the exhibition will likely be over before they even hear about it.
On top of this if you are working in public housing communities there is a need for extra time. We found this in Waterloo during rezoning. There are needs for capacity building, to help tenants understand what is being proposed and to physically assist people make their submissions. The Exhibition mechanism is on line which creates major issues in communities that are impacted by the digital divide.
The only way we could see formal exhibition times being reduced fairly is if robust pre-submission consultations are made mandatory so that the impacted community is well aware of the project and its potential impacts prior to exhibition. Another possibility is for accelerated DA's where vulnerable communities are involved, to include a preliminary Social Impact Assessment to specifically identify the impact of reduced exhibition and to recommend an appropriate exhibition time. A plan for appropriate consultation with communities like those living in impacted public housing areas should then be developed and over-ride the usual exhibition period.
REDWatch is very concerned about this proposal and encourages people to make submissions on this change. For more information and to have your say on this proposed change visit Community Participation Plan<https://cl.S10.exct.net/?qs=11688f64cb04006c8b531bf95b4f5634d90d065dade3a0e1d5e464e8c9df7a9e2aec66ae762723e7c3c7ac0aa87a5ec33725c06d61050e2f> and make your submission by Thursday 17th July 2025.
REDWatch would also like to see Homes NSW and Stockland commit to longer exhibition periods than those required. It is important that tenants and agencies have adequate time to respond to any proposals involving public housing tenants especially in major developments like Waterloo.
2019 Waterloo Health Impact Assessment now public
We are pleased to announce that the 2019 Waterloo Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is now publicly available through the University of NSW Library Portal as Healthy Waterloo: A Study into the Maintenance and Improvement of Health and Wellbeing in Waterloo<http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/105143>.
We wish to acknowledge the support of Homes NSW, Sydney Local Health District and the Health Equity Research and Development Unit, International Centre for Future Health Systems, University of New South Wales for their assistance in finally getting this report into the public domain. It provides a basis for a new Community Lead Waterloo Health Impact Assessment, which will be conducted in coming months.
The initial recommendations in the 2019 Draft report have been deleted, but were supplied to all those involved with the HIA in 2019. In addition, some copyright images have been deleted and accompanying text edited as appropriate to meet UNSW requirements. Otherwise, the report is as prepared in 2019 for approval before being blocked in 2019 by the Department of Communities and Justice, and Land and Housing Corporation.
The full citation is: Lilley, D., Standen, C. & Lloyd, J. (2025). Healthy Waterloo: A Study into the Maintenance and Improvement of Health and Wellbeing in Waterloo. Health Equity Research and Development Unit, International Centre for Future Health Systems, University of New South Wales. https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/31229
Build a Bridge - The promised Eveleigh bridge that will not die
A recent consortium proposal to redevelop North Eveleigh as a sound stage facility to make new film and television content has been pitched to government as a way to finally realise a long-desired bridge linking South Eveleigh with Carriageworks and its surrounding Tech Central precinct according to the Sydney Morning Herald's These vacant railway yards at Redfern could be our next mega-film studios<https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/these-vacant-railway-yards-at-redfern-could-be-sydney-s-next-mega-film-studios-20250313-p5lje3.html>. The article was in response to a pre-budget announcement of "$100 million in a capital fund to begin the hunt for the location of a second film studio for Sydney."
A bridge at this location was promised by Premier Bob Carr in 2004 as part of the NSW Government plan to redevelop Redfern-Waterloo. Following a community push for the bridge during the 2022 North Eveleigh rezoning, an area has been set aside for a future bridge connection, but it was excluded from both the redevelopment of North Eveleigh and the Large Erecting Shop that it would have connected. The community is still waiting for a promised explanation from Transport for NSW on why the bridge has not been included.
Recently the drivers of the #Buildabridge campaign, REDWatch, Friends of Erskineville and Alexandria Residents Action Group worked with A/Professor HY William Chan and UTS Citizen Architecture students on ideas about how to reinvigorate the Campaign.  Among the ideas developed by students to help tackle the problem were a magazine aimed at students, a virtual reality portal across the divide, a gamified treasure hunt and an app-guided tour around the 3.5 km perimeter of the site. Many resources were also produced including trivia questions, collateral, infographics, technical arguments for a bridge and ways that LocalLoop<https://www.localloop.app/>, social media and Instagram could be used by the campaign.
The three groups are reviewing the material and are moving to widened and reinvigorate the campaign. This includes giving the joint campaign its own website and social media - see the request below.
Help needed for website and social media for Build a Bridge
We are seeking expressions of interest from members who are willing to contribute to the development of a WordPress-hosted website and social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) that will support a significant new push for our campaign to build a bicycle and footbridge connecting North and South Eveleigh, a piece of infrastructure that has been promised and is long overdue.
This joint initiative by the three resident groups, REDWatch, Alexandria Resident Action Group (ARAG), and Friends of Erskineville (FoE), plans to utilise a volume of new materials recently generated by groups of students from the UTS Faculty of Building, Architecture and Design.
The students have generated some excellent ideas and source material for new ways to expand the campaign, engage with new and broader stakeholder groups, and reinvigorate the campaign's profile.
If this is something you are keen to be involved in, please forward your contact details to one of the following contacts:

  *   REDWatch - mail at redwatch.org.au<mailto:mail at redwatch.org.au>
  *   ARAG - info at arag.org.au<mailto:info at arag.org.au>
  *   FoE - friends at friendsoferskineville.org<mailto:friends at friendsoferskineville.org>

Regards,

Geoff
Geoffrey Turnbull
REDWatch Spokesperson
Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392
email: spokesperson at redwatch.org.au<mailto:spokesperson at redwatch.org.au>
web: www.redwatch.org.au<http://www.redwatch.org.au/>
FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/<http://www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/>


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