Redfern has a higher level of poverty than surrounding areas. This is mainly due to the large amount of public housing such as the Redfern Towers. There is a large population of new immigrants living here with 44.1% of house holds speaking a language other than English.
The Redfern Towers is a major concern for the Redfern council. They are:
- visually ugly being so tall and large
- have few small windows
- small balconies
- made out of cement and brick (not allowing much sunlight).
- very noisy
- a centre for rubbish and pollution
The type of people living there are immigrants, those with mental illness and all suffer from financial and social hardship. The council is trying to renew these building by painting them however, they are restricted with many living meaning they can't just rebuild and leave them all homeless.
Many of the terraces in Redfern are like those in Surry Hills but haven't had the same renewal and show signs of deterioration. Visually they are dirty and are often not as well kept.
Redfern also has a dangerous reputation of violence, delinquent gangs of children, drugs, alcoholics and crime. This reputation has caused a new suburb to start forming on the boarders of Redfern and Surry Hills called East Redfern. More people wanted to be associated with East Redfern to avoid the stigma and raise the price of their property.
