The NSW Budget 2021-2022 was announced on Tuesday. While there were some important steps taken towards addressing homelessness and the housing affordability crisis, which we know is particularly bad in regional NSW, it's clear that more needs to be done.
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Every new social home that is made available by the State Government is welcome and will have a great impact on the lives of people who are homeless by giving them a safe and secure place to live. But there are still 50,000 people on our social housing wait list in NSW and homelessness is on the rise.
Homelessness and living in housing stress, which occurs when people are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs, is not the fault of the individual - it's the result of policies and decisions made by our governments.
The severe shortage of social housing and affordable rentals, high levels of housing stress, low rate of JobSeeker and other income support payments is causing an influx of financial stress, housing insecurity and homelessness.
Fact and figures can become a bit meaningless - one person who is homeless is one too many.
To humanise the situation, I am reminded of an Aboriginal woman that our local Mission Australia team assisted recently. She is in her 70s, and was sleeping in a shopfront with holes in the walls and no proper heating. No one in a country as wealthy as ours should suffer through these brutal conditions and indignity.
The NSW Budget contains funding for a regional housing taskforce which will be set up to combat the housing shortage across NSW. Our regional services have seen time and again the impact of rising housing costs, which are pushing many towards housing instability and risk of homelessness. We look forward to hearing more detail about this important initiative. It is important that local organisations with frontline experience and knowledge like Mission Australia be part of this taskforce.
While any investment in housing and homelessness in NSW is welcome, other state governments have recently made much more significant budget announcements in this area, including the Queensland Government which recently announced a $2.9 billion investment in housing and homelessness initiatives and the Victorian Government which announced a spend of $5.3 billion. This shows the scale of investment needed to address the supply gap in social housing and the needs of people affected by or at risk of homelessness.
Our frontline workers tell me they've "never seen it this bad before".
We need creative ways to supply more affordable homes as a matter of urgency. The establishment of a "bond aggregator" model for investing in social housing and mandatory inclusionary zoning which sets mandatory targets for affordable housing could be considered as part of this response.
But above all we need to build more social housing in NSW if we are to have any hope of ending homelessness in our state.
- Daniel Strickland is the Mission Australia area manager for Southern NSW and ACT.
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