Future directions for social housing in NSW : new opportunities for 'place' and 'community' in public housing renewal

Large scale Estate Renewal Projects (ERPs) have been a prominent feature of recent public housing policy in Australia. These projects are often presented as an urban panacea intended to solve the social and asset challenges that have left estates as neighbourhoods of 'concentrated disadvantage'. Communities Plus, a component of the recent Future Directions for Social Housing in NSW policy represents a recommitment to place based ERPs. These plans include a broad range of social and physical environment interventions that "create opportunities for innovation through partnership". Past research has sought to understand the impact of social mix policies. Or have championed an idealistic agenda for urban design and renewal. This research establishes a nuanced understanding of how conceptions of 'community' and 'place' are deployed by stakeholders to navigate social housing renewal by approaching ERPs from three directions: lived experience, discourse and spatial form. The article draws on interviews, place audits, and participant led photographic surveys from two Sydney ERPs to argue that estate renewal is a complex and often site-specific undertaking. Deployed sensitively, Communities Plus may have significant potential to ensure equitable renewal of NSW's social housing estates.