NSW’s growing homelessness crisis can be solved with urgent government action on housing and support, says Homelessness NSW.
CEO Trina Jones said: “The rising cost of living, low wages and a dire shortage of affordable rental homes is fuelling a homelessness crisis across NSW.
“Ensuring that everyone has a safe place to call home should be among the first priorities of any government. The solutions are easy to implement and relatively affordable.
“The state government must act by urgently building more social housing and better supporting homelessness services which are under pressure with soaring demand from people in need.”
Mission Australia today reports demand for homelessness services is up 26 per cent and a PropTrack analysis shows the plunging proportion of affordable rental housing.
Homelessness NSW is calling on the state government to:
- Increase net stock of social housing from 4.7% to 10%
- Properly fund homelessness services to meet rising demand
- Improve coordination on housing across government
Key facts
- 68,500 people were supported by Specialist Homelessness Services in NSW in 2022
- NSW currently builds an average 34,000 residential dwellings per year.
- Approximately 700 – or just 2% are social housing. At the current rate of social housing investment, it will take over 80 years to meet the current demand of the waiting list