Equity
The renewal of the Bonnyrigg public housing estate in western Sydney commenced in 2007 through a public private partnership (PPP), the first of its kind in social housing delivery in Australia. The University of NSW Australia’s City Futures Research Centre was commissioned by Bonnyrigg Partnerships, the arms-length organisation set up by then Housing NSW to oversee the PPP, to conduct a longitudinal panel study with the aim to tracking the impact the physical and community renewal activities on the local population. Wave 1 of this study was conducted during 2011-12 with a Wave 1 report published in September 2012, with subsequent waves expected to take place every two years.
In early 2013, the Becton Property Group, the development and construction partner of the PPP, went into receivership and demolition and construction was put on hold. At this time, Stages 1-3 were completed and occupied, with residents in Stages 4-6 relocated, and dwellings in Stages 4-5 demolished. Despite extended efforts, a new development partner could not be found and NSW Family and Community Services announced in mid-2015 that the PPP was discontinued. As a result, Wave 2 (2013-14) of the longitudinal study did not go ahead as planned and the study was concluded along with the discontinuation of the PPP.
In mid-2015, a new renewal arrangement for the Bonnyrigg estate was announced by the NSW Minister for Social Housing, Brad Hazzard. This new arrangement expanded SGCH Ltd’s role in tenancy management to include community renewal, and sees UrbanGrowth NSW coming on board to complete the renewal of Stages 4-6.
In 2017, SGCH Ltd commissioned the City Futures Research Centre to reviving this longitudinal study. Wave 1 of the longitudinal study in 2012 involved interviews with 97 househoolds that lived on the Bonnyrigg estate and reflected on their views of being informed of the estate's renewal. The continuation of these study from 2017 will see the research team reflect more strongly on the on-going impacts the renewal has had on the wellbeing and social and economic independence of residents, moving away from the focus of Wave 1 which was more on the initial process of renewal and impact of the project annoucement.
The methodology employed in Wave 1 - household interviews supplemented with quantitative dataset analyses - will be largely replicated, focussing specifically on three household types:
* single people
* families with children under 18
* private owner-occupiers and renters
Wave 2 fieldwork will be completed during the second half of 2017 and the report finalised in early 2018.
Information about the study in your community’s language: