Wollongong Social Housing Residents Oppose Redevelopment Plans

Wayne Morris's three-bedroom social housing terrace in Wollongong has a million-dollar view.

Walk out of his back door, down a short concrete path and out the gate, and you will find yourself overlooking Bellambi Beach.

Mr Morris takes pride in the house he has carefully maintained for 12 years. It was full of family photos, luscious indoor plants, Rabbitohs merch and a very chatty parrot.

Under a rezoning confirmed last week, his home and those of his neighbours in the Bellambi Estate would be replaced with thousands of new units in the next 15 to 20 years.

The redevelopment would replace 465 townhouses and villas in the estate, 435 of them social housing, with up to 2,500 apartments and terraces — at least 750 of them social housing.

While the overall number of social houses in the estate would increase, the proportion would decrease from around 90 per cent today to a minimum of 30 per cent of the new build.

Mr Morris described it as "reverse Robin Hood".

"Everyday Australians without wealth are being penalised so they can give all the rich people million-dollar views [which] we're not entitled to," he said.

Homes NSW said planning for the redevelopment was underway and no final decision on the locations and sizes of the new homes has been made.

Mr Morris said he had no plans to comply if he was issued with an eviction order.

"They're going to destroy the community as it is," he said.

NSW ministers Ryan Park and Paul Scully struggled to get through the announcement that the rezoning had been confirmed on the Bellambi foreshore last week, as irate residents heckled.

Chris McDougall walked down from his property, which backs onto the foreshore area, to voice his dissent.

"We're human beings," he said to reporters.

"They wouldn't like to get picked up and moved for no reason."

Mr Scully defended the proposal as critical to plug the housing gap and said many residents have privately expressed their support to him.

"These 50, 60-year-old and older homes are no longer fit for many people's purposes," he said.

Homeless Hub supports project

There were more than 3,000 people on the social housing waitlist in the Illawarra, and most waited more than 10 years for a property.

Between meetings with people sleeping rough at the Wollongong Homeless Hub drop-in session this week, director of services Kelly McGarrity said the organisation is completely supportive of the Bellambi proposal.

She said there was a "significant need" for more social and affordable housing stock, as the organisation confronts unprecedented levels of homelessness in the community.

"On any given night, we're providing temporary emergency accommodation to up to 150 people," she said.

Mitch Young is one of the people on the waitlist, currently living in temporary accommodation provided by the Hub in Bellambi.

He said that while he does not have a permanent home, he still does not support the current proposal because of the impact it could have on his neighbours.

He said that could change if more than 30 per cent was dedicated to social housing.

"[If there was] a higher percentage of social housing, yeah, I probably would support it," he said.

Mixed model

The Bellambi Redevelopment would be a mixed-tenure model, in which social housing is no longer clustered in one area, but mixed in with affordable and private housing.

Amanda Winks heads up community housing provider The Housing Trust, which has opened several mixed-tenure projects in Wollongong.

She supported the Bellambi redevelopment, and said the model will better integrate the community and reduce stigma.

"The benefit that a mixed tenure develop is the ability for people to live in a way that doesn't mean somebody knows who has provided their home from the front door," she said.