Labor MPs on the Central Coast have thrown their support behind a call from the St Vincent de Paul Society for a commitment from the State Government to provide more social housing in the region, with latest figures showing the waitlist still tops 3,000.
The Society is calling on the Government to build an additional 5,000 new social housing properties state-wide each year for the next decade to address the current waitlist.
St Vincent de Paul Society Central Coast Social Justice Representative, Denis O’Rourke, said latest government figures show 46,000 general social housing applicants in NSW and a further 5,300 listed as priority up to the end of June 2020, with 3004 on the Central Coast alone.
“Each applicant represents a household, meaning the number of people, including children, who are without a place to call home remains well over 100,000 across the state,” he said.
“When the JobSeeker payment was raised, we were seeing a decrease in the number of people turning to Vinnies for assistance.
“Now that the rate is dropping there is a growing concern from people unsure of how they will stay above water.”
Member for The Entrance, David Mehan, said it should be no surprise to anyone that the Central Coast public housing waiting list has increased.
“There is less public housing on the Coast now than when the current State Coalition Government was elected in 2011,” he said.
“Answers provided to questions on notice by the Member for The Entrance show that the total number of social housing dwelling on the Coast in 2011 was 4565.
“By 2020 this had fallen to 4343 – a reduction of 222 dwellings over the period.
“Many of these dwellings have been sold to the private sector in what is effectively the privatization of public housing.”
Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, said it was unfortunate to see regular opposition to social and affordable housing developments due to unfair beliefs about the kinds of people who might move in.
“The reality is that more than half of people in social housing are single pensioners, and a number are families in dire need,” she said.
Shadow Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong, David Harris, also supported calls for more social housing.
“On existing social housing properties maintenance is a real issue; some are remaining empty for a long period of time [waiting] on repairs,” he said.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said the Government was aware of calls to build more new social housing on the Central Coast and was working to identify local demand for suitable homes and recycle ageing, outdated properties to build more new homes.
“This reinvestment program also delivers new homes to support vulnerable people while generating jobs and spending in the construction sector, to help boost NSW’s economic recovery from COVID-19,” Crouch said.
“Recognising the ability to deliver these multiple benefits, this financial year the NSW Government increased the budget for social housing investment by over 80 per cent.
“This includes almost $900M to accelerate the delivery of thousands of new homes and create up to 3,000 jobs.
“Of this, $812M is for new and upgraded housing across the state, and $80M to support new housing sector pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships and cadetships, and help deliver 100 new social homes.
“This new funding takes the total NSW Government investment in social and affordable housing to $4.4B over four years.
“The NSW Government also continues to invest in the growth of the community housing sector and working together we have delivered more than $3.2B in social housing properties since 2014-15.
“In the next five years, LAHC is on track to deliver more than 3,200 new homes across NSW, while Community Housing Providers are expected to contribute nearly 3,000 social and affordable homes over the next couple of years.”
Terry Collins