The NSW Labor government’s rezoning of the Bellambi public housing estate, north of Wollongong, is being sold as “renewal”.
But for many residents and housing campaigners, it looks like something else: the privatisation of public land, the break-up of a long-established working-class community and another retreat from Labor’s promise to preserve public housing.
The Bellambi estate, built mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, is the Illawarra’s most significant public housing estate. Its 26 hectares contain 465 homes, 95% of which are public.
The rezoning proposal was publicly exhibited until March 13. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure says it will enable up to 2500 homes on the site. Just 30% of these are set to become “community” housing with the remaining 70% to be private.
The department received 275 submissions during its consultation, with just 76 in support. Despite this, it made no changes to the planning amendments.
One objector wrote that the department’s proposal “doesn’t deliver a single public home, literally not one”, calling instead for a like-for-like housing guarantee.
Another described the plan as “the privatisation of state-owned assets”. Another said Bellambi should remain “100% public land”, warning that a so-called “right of return” means little if tenants are displaced for 15 to 20 years and lose schools, support networks and community ties in the process.
The same formula and promises have been made to residents at Waterloo South and other NSW public housing sites.
As at Waterloo, the government’s model leaves most of the public land as private, or privately-managed, housing.
Bellambi is therefore not an exception, but part of the broader pattern of government running down public housing, announcing demolition as “renewal” and using terms, including “social mix”, to justify privatising the bulk of the site.
Annie Leeks, a Bellami public housing resident, told Green Left: “About two years ago I noticed the maintenance started being cut. It was only during the rezoning meetings that those who spoke up suddenly got repairs done.
“If this proposal goes ahead the rich private owners will get the best homes in prime spots, while the rest of us will be shoved into small units without any views. Bulli and Dapto estates will be next.”
Community anger around Bellambi’s demolition erupted when Ryan Park, MP for Illawarra and the Couth Coast, and Paul Scully, MP for Wollongong, planning and public spaces, announced their rezoning decision. Residents heckled the ministers, with local Paul McDougall telling the ABC: “We’re human beings … They wouldn’t like to get picked up and moved for no reason.”
Residents’ opposition is becoming more organised. The Public Housing Action Network (PHAN) held a protest outside Scully’s office on May 23. Leeks said that she has door-knocked the estate and “people have told me they want their houses fixed and they want to stay”.
Bellambi residents are joining a growing chorus of opposition.
The question is not whether dilapidated public housing should be repaired or demolished, but why public housing is being demolished in one of the region’s most valuable locations.
Residents are right to say this is not “renewal” in any meaningful sense; it is a privatisation plan.
[Public Housing Action Network is organising a community barbecue on July 26 at 12 noon at the Bellambi Beach Rock Pools. Contact Luke Hocking on 0466 334 238 and follow PHAN on Instagram.]