public housing concepts & policies

PUBLIC HOUSING - CONCEPTS AND POLICIES

Public housing is subject to the following tensions in concept and policy:

* low rise versus high rise
* recycling versus redevelopment
* new housing estates versus inner city programs

LOW RISE VERSUS HIGH RISE

High rise tower development is illustrated by the Waterloo scheme in Sydney, whereas low rise development is illustrated by town house schemes at Redfern, Mt Druitt and Campbelltown in Sydney, and Elizabeth and Enfield in Adelaide.

ADVANTAGES OF HIGH RISE:

more units per hectare of land
more units with views and open aspects
more open space at ground level.

DISADVANTAGES OF HIGH RISE

social problems
higher cost of construction per square metre
greater dependence on services such as lifts
a large population requiring centralized services such as recreation facilities, meeting rooms, and shops.

The NSW Department of Housing has maintained that freestanding houses on housing estates in the outer suburbs is the most economical method of providing public housing. On the other hand, the Victorian department has in the past, favoured high rise development in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The largest high rise public housing development in NSW was the Waterloo scheme.

WATERLOO - SYDNEY

Waterloo was the authority's largest venture into high rise public housing being developed on a 12.6 hectare site at Redfern and Waterloo. The scheme was a result of pressure on the authority not to relocate inner city tenants to the western suburbs further out. The need for inner city public housing recognised existing work opportunities in the inner areas of Sydney particularly at the ports and industrial centres of Botany, Waterloo and Pagewood. Further, it results in less extended family and social disruption and fragmentation.

Acquisition was by way of a Section 4(D) Proclamation on 28.4.72. The proclamation reserves land for the use of the authority and freezes all new development on the site.

The then Commission initially bought 175 of the total 504 dwellings. The original proposal of six 30 storey towers was criticised by local resident action groups forcing union green bans. Opposition against the proposal raged for a little over 9 years and became known as the "battle of Waterloo".

The Commission eventually backed down and presented a new plan emphasizing the renovation of a number of existing buildings. A number of different scheme of various sizes were considered and the final scheme consisted of the restoration of 200 old homes and 300 new dwellings built to house 2 000 residents.

Sanity prevailing at last so that the character & atmosphere of ` Waterloo would be retained - local resident.

Purcell was the first public high rise project for aged persons in NSW.
Situated on the corner of Young and Cooper Sts, Redfern, Sydney,
the building is of 8 storeys with 92 units. It was completed in 1973.

The question is whether or not the apparent increase in social problems with higher density is outweighed by the more efficient use of the site. Do the marginal gains in development efficiency outweigh the extra social costs of the high density development?

Margaret Mead was commissioned by the Commission to investigate the social problems of high rise living. She found that:

High rise units are suitable for a few people, but elderly people and families with young children can't cope with the life style. Apart from that, Waterloo as it is today would have been demolished and its character changed completely.

The NSW authority has long maintained that cottages can be erected more cheaply than flats and most applicants prefer houses. However, government bodies particularly the Waterboard, see advantages in multi unit development. The proposed increase in inner city population is reflected in the government's policy of "urban consolidation".

TABLE

Habitable Floor	Population Dwelling Room Space Likely Form	Density Density Density Ratio of Developmt.
Sq m	Sq m Habit site	Dwgs/ site rooms/ area/ persons/ site area/ site habit	hectare hect dwg. hect room	FSR:1
25	6--7	l1400--1700	NA	NA NA LOW DENSITY
detached houses with large gardens,	50 13--15 650--750 NA NA NA detached houses with medium gardens,	75 20--22 450--500 NA NA NA detached houses with small gardens
S 59			170	LOW-MEDIUM
100 M 42 240 150 67			0.35	DENSITY
L	30 330 semi-detached houses, duplexes, courtyard houses,
125 S 74 135				row houses
M 52 190 190 53 0.45 with ample L 38 260 gardens.
S 88 115

150 M 62 160 230 43 0.55
L 45 220

S 103 100
175 M 73 135 270 37 0.65
L 53 190 MEDIUM DENSITY
S 118 85 courtyard
200 M 83 120 310 32 0.75 houses, row L 61 165 houses with small gardens, low flats with spacious
S 130 75 gardens.
225 M 93 105 350 29 0.80
L 68 145

S 147 70
250 M 104 95 380 26 0.90
L 76 130

HIGH-MEDIUM S 176 55 DENSITY
300 M 125 80 460 22 1.10 either low-rise L 91 110 flats covering high
proportion of site or
S 206 50 high-rise flats. 350 M 146 70 540 19 1.30
L 106 95

S 236 45
400 M 167 60 620 16 l.45
L 127 80 HIGH DENSITY mainly high-rise with multi-level
S 265 40 parking.
450 M 187 55 690 14 1.65
L 136 75

S 294 35
500 M 208 50 770 13 1.80
L 152 65

Where the concept of 'average dwelling' is used for dwelling density, the figures for medium sized dwelling (M) should be taken.

NA = Not applicable
S = Small dwelling (below 55 sq m)
M = Medium dwelling (55--85 sq m)
L = Large dwelling (above 85 sq m)

Habitable Room includes living room, bedroom and kitchen, permanently enclosed sleepout, but excludes bathroom, pantry, laundry and storehouse.

OCCUPANCY RATIOS

Detached houses: 3.5 persons/dwelling
Small dwellings: 1.7 persons/dwelling
Medium dwellings: 2.4 persons/dwelling
Large dwellings: 3.3 persons/dwelling
Habitable room: 0.65 persons/habitable room

Gross residential floor space (dwelling area plus circulation area such as stairs, lifts) per person = 37 m².

TABLE
COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVE SCHEMES - WATERLOO

SCHEME	ROAD CLOSURES	OPEN SPACE USES	POPULATION
Comprehensive rehabilitation	6-8	2.9-5.31ha =137-189sm/p	1969-2814
Low rise:	8-10	6.09ha =159sm/p	3819
Medium rise:	9-11	7.11ha =129sm/p	5516
High rise:	9-11	7.2ha =130-176sm/p	4086-5536

P=preschool Y=youth centre A=aged persons amenity centre C=community facilities

The above comparisons were for the development of the Waterloo site (about 13ha) but according to different designs and schemes.

See public housing – Victoria

See department of houseing – nsw

NSW CHANGES IN POLICY

DACEYVILLE – GARDEN CITY

An attractive workman's Federation cottage in the Garden City concept at Daceyville, Sydney. This was known as type #9 built in 1915.

AUSTERITY

"Austerity" public housing - 1950s. During this period most of the capital cities were subject to an unprecedented demand for housing, caused largely by the large number of immigrants.

In response, the public housing authorities built a large number of these houses. They were very cheap, as the authorities successfully utilized their economies of scale.

Many of the old public houses are well sited and developers as in these examples have specialised buying, renovating and selling such houses.

Older style outer suburban low density developments such as Green Valley (1952) have been replaced by a greater mix of development
such as Macquarie Fields (1980).

MACQUARIE FIELDS

Area: 115 ha
Open space: 9.8 ha
Common facilities: 6.9ha
1 388 residential units

See recycling versus redvelopment

See Glebe Estate

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SYDNEY

Although most councils ignored the government's plea to build public housing, the Sydney City Council did build a number of buildings. The high rise concrete block buildings at Glebe and Camperdown built in the 1950s are less successful examples however, a very attractive 3 storey building was built by the council on the ridge of Pyrmont Point in the 1930s. The Council completed in 1989, its first public housing venture for 20 years on the corner of Mountain and MacArthur Sts, Ultimo. This project includes the renovation of three old terraces.

NEW ESTATES VERSUS INNER CITY PROGRAMS

ADVANTAGES OF NEW HOUSING ESTATES

low cost per residential unit for example, of raw land
more residences per ha than recycling
modern planning principles and concepts can be implemented.
adds to the housing stock and therefore, increases supply tending to reduce the cost of housing.
more functional and better designed buildings.

DISADVANTAGES OF NEW HOUSING ESTATES

"Ghettoism", an often unreasonable bias against public housing tenants for example, Green Valley in Sydney's west.
a high number of social problems particularly, in the early stages of the estate. More disruptive for tenants who live in the inner city areas.
generally, there is not a good social mix or the mix is not representative of the general population.
high commuter costs as most job opportunities in Sydney are still in the inner suburbs. In terms of the authority's objectives in the 1950s and 1960s the suburbs and new cities did provide a large amount of reasonable housing very quickly.

The Authority prefers to buy large tracts of en globo land wherever possible. Advantages of this policy includes the acquiring authority deals with only a few owners and encourages economies of scale.

SPOT BUYING

Spot buying has successfully been used by the public housing authorities particularly, in periods of a downturn in the private sector housing market. For example, in 1984 the then Housing Commission of NSW bought a new residential complex from Meriton and 546 Crown St consisting of 38 two bedroom 3 storey walkups plus 46 undercover carspaces. Spot buying scatters public housing tenants so that there is less of a "ghetto" effect and offers the tenant a greater choice of location and building style.

INNER CITY PROGRAMS

Part of the Department of Housing's (NSW) mission is to "provide accommodation for the `well aged' at rentals they can afford in locations that suit their needs. That is, proximity to relatives, friends, doctors, clinics, hospitals, churches, shipping centres and transport".

This includes shift workers who need to live close to their employment and those with medical needs are best serviced in the inner city area and specialised hospital needs. The crises of inner city accommodation for elderly and disadvantaged groups has been compounded by the "gentrification" of these suburbs. The Department's objectives for the inner city are:

to provide additional accommodation for lower income earners close to the city
to provide a better social & physical living environment through additional community facilities, additional open space and eliminating traffic congestion.
to make more effective use of land for residential and community purposes.

The old concept. The twin 30 storey towers of Mataui and Turanga at Waterloo – Sydney

High rise tower with public space – Riverwood Sydney. More amenable than Waterloo

“Sirius” apartments in Cumberland St, The Rocks. An example of variable rise density public housing