Care, urban regeneration and forced tenant relocation: the case of Ivanhoe social housing estate, Sydney

Abstract

Urban regeneration has emerged as a policy response to disadvantage which characterises social housing estates across Australian cities. This paper explores the regeneration of the Ivanhoe social housing estate, focusing on forced tenant relocations. We argue that the State Housing Authority (SHA) utilised existing care networks to facilitate relocation. We investigate how The Salvation Army (TSA), a local service provider on the estate since 2001, were used to enable relocation. Adopting a conceptual framework centred on the idea of ‘care’, we reveal three interconnected themes. First, we argue that presence of TSA on the estate is a form of local service provision based on a foundation of long-term ‘caring with’ tenants to build community and address disadvantage. Second, these long-term ‘caring with’ relationships transitioned into a form of ‘caring for’ within the context estate regeneration and forced tenant relocation. Third, the efforts by TSA to care for tenants were mobilised by the SHA to expediate relocation, enabling regeneration.

Keywords:

• Urban regeneration
• tenant relocation
• care
• social housing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The local council area in which Ivanhoe Estate is located

2 https://unoh.org/ (accessed: 15 March 2022)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristian Ruming

Prof Kristian Ruming is an urban and economic geographer. His research interests centre on issues of housing and urban planning. Kristian’s research has explored social housing provision in New South Wales, in particular residents’ experience of their neighbourhood and the evaluation of policies tied to urban renewal and community regeneration.

Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita

Dr Marilu Melo Zurita is part of the Environment and Society Group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. With a disciplinary background in human geography and cultural anthropology, her research has explored the fields of social housing relocation projects, disaster management, water governance and volumetric urbanism.