Large city fringe landholding to facilitate development of much-needed affordable and social dwellings

Written by

Charbel Abousleiman

Urban Planning Lawyer & Buyers Agent

16/10/2023

In March 2020, the NSW Land and Housing Corporation submitted a rezoning request to the City of Sydney to change the planning controls for its key landholdings at 600 – 660 Elizabeth Street in Redfern.

The site was considered a deferred matter under the Sydney LEP 2012 and prior to rezoning last year, it was zoned residential medium density under the South Sydney LEP 1998 with a 6 metre height limit. The site now benefits from the following planning changes:

R1 General Residential zone,
increased height ranging from 4 – 16 storeys,
increased mapped FSR of 1.5:1 and incentives to increase to 2.5:1 if community facilities are included on the site or 2.75:1 if arrangements are secured for community facilities elsewhere in the locality,
no additional overshadowing from the site to Redfern Park and Oval, and
site-specific clauses for community facilities and affordable housing dwellings.

LAHC’s 10,850 square metre prime city fringe landholding

Located within the Redfern Social Housing Estate and earmarked by the former Planning Minister as a State Significant Precinct, the new controls will facilitate over 350 x social and affordable housing apartments. In addition, 3500 square metres of land on the corner of Elizabeth and Kent streets will likely be dedicated to community facilities. The ground floor of the development will provide non-residential floor space for neighbourhood shops, cafes and a childcare centre.

Existing on the site are 3 x single storied 1950s brick buildings, which operate as a PCYC centre. This PCYC centre plays a critical role for the local youth community and as such will not be demolished until arrangements have been made for community facilities to be secured on the redeveloped site or elsewhere in the locality.

At a time when the wait list for social housing in NSW is almost 60,000 people, the demand for social housing has never been greater. Combined with a 5 – 10 year waiting period for social housing in South Sydney and the extra demand that will be created by the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19, there is a critical need to deliver social and affordable housing.

Given this site is less than 1km from Redfern Station and Waterloo Metro, this site presents an opportunity to optimise NSW government-owned land to deliver affordable and social dwellings on a site that is predominately vacant and grossly underutilised. The population in Redfern is highly diverse, indicating that any future development application for the site will need to include a range of housing types, including housing suited to families, couples and single person households.

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