Detention centre operator Serco wants to move into NSW public housing, and is lobbying to bring a controversial business model trialled on asylum seekers in Britain to Sydney.

Serco needs to plug the revenue hole left as the federal government closes down immigration detention centres, once its biggest Australian money-spinner.

Public housing apartment blocks at Waterloo.

The Baird government will start transferring the management of public housing to community housing providers next year, and is expected to call for tenders in October.

A third of NSW public housing will be transferred to non-government organisations over four years, in tranches of about 1000 homes.