Public housing tenants are facing major disruption as the government redevelops as many as 853 units along Northbourne Avenue and Cooyong Street as part of its revitalisation of the city centre.
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A change to the Territory Plan took effect on Friday to allow the Cooyong Street development, which involves demolishing the Allawah, Bega and Currong public housing blocks to make way for new residential and commercial development.
There are 381 occupied units in the three blocks, and the government has also turned its attention to 472 occupied public housing units in eight complexes on Northbourne Avenue.
Plans are still being worked out for housing the tenants, but Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell said the Northbourne work would take place over ''five, seven, 10 years'', and a spokeswoman for Housing Minister Shane Rattenbury said the Cooyong development would take place over ''probably in excess of five years''.
Many of the residents from Bega, Allawah and Currong were expected to be housed in small redevelopments in north Canberra, but not all would want to stay in the inner north, she said.
''For a variety of reasons, such as proximity to family, work etc, some tenants may seek to move to other parts of Canberra,'' the spokeswoman said. ''As always, we will work with the tenants to ensure their needs are met.''
Liberal housing spokeswoman Nicole Lawder called on the government to be more open about its plans, saying she was concerned that tenants were hearing about plans through the wrong channels.