Public housing estate renewal programmes increasingly require that tenants move from their homes to enable redevelopment; a process we refer to as renewal-initiated tenant relocation. While there is an extant body of research that reveals how forced relocation can have negative health and well-being impacts for tenants, limited attention has been given to the policies and practices that shape the relocation process, specifically the role of frontline staff.
In this paper, we examine the role of relocation officers—staff responsible for managing renewal-initiated tenant relocation—in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. We argue that relocation officers operate as specialised street-level bureaucrats responsible for enacting policy on-the-ground. Relocation officers navigate formal policy frameworks, organisational structures, and individual tenant needs through relationship-building, and the exercise of discretion, flexibility, and informal practices.
Renewal-initiated tenant relocation is shaped by local autonomy and team culture, the skills and experiences of relocation officers, and their capacity to engage in intra- and inter-departmental negotiations.
