The state government is courting property developers to build a new public housing estate in a bid to bust up ghettos.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Squalid housing estates will be bulldozed and rebuilt into communities with 70 per cent private ownership and 30 per cent subsidised houses.
The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has confirmed a site in Wagga at Wiradjuri Crescent is currently under an expression of interest as part of the public housing reform plan.
The government hopes mixing private and public housing will break the cycle of poverty that has seen successive generations of families relying on government-provided housing.
Wagga is one of nine cities in the frame for privatised social housing alongside Penrith, Bankstown, Parrammatta, Lane Cove, Port Macquarie and Wollongong.
While refusing to disclose the exact location of the site in question, the state owns 5,830 square-metres of vacant land at 34-36 Wiradjuri Crescent.
The plot has sat idle for 26 years, ever since it was snapped up for a paltry $150,000 in December 1990.
The state also owns 4,897 square-metres of land next door at 38 Wiradjuri Crescent, which has newly-built home units.
The state government is also working with Wagga council on further planning opportunities, including revamping other public housing estates throughout the city.
“The NSW Government is undertaking the largest reform of social housing in decades to provide more housing for the state’s most vulnerable people,” a FACS spokesman said.
Council owns two homes just a few doors from the state’s vacant plot on Wiradjuri Crescent, but a council spokeswoman said they weren’t being considered for public housing.
“Council does not own any land on Wiradjuri Crescent that is currently under an expression of interest,” the spokeswoman said.
Former community services minister Brad Hazzard hinted at the new public housing format when he visited Tolland in September, telling The Daily Advertiser he wanted all new public housing developments to look exactly like private housing next door.
Residents who fail to shape up to the new standards will be kicked to the curb under FACS’ hard-line three-strikes approach to disruptive behaviour.
