Local community housing provider Home in Place is working to ensure the Central Coast gets a fair share of the $10B Housing Australia Future Fund and the National Housing Accord, with applications for funding opening this week.
Home in Place CEO Australia Lyndall Robertshaw said government funding for social and affordable housing was a smart investment in vital infrastructure.
“A safe and secure roof over your head is a fundamental human right,” she said.
“Without it you can’t be productive, properly care for kids and others, or contribute to your community.
“The anxiety and stress caused by a lack of housing security has devastating consequences on almost every indicator of human wellbeing.”
Robertshaw said rents and house prices continued to rise on the Central Coast with asking rents increasing by another 5.9 per cent over the past 12 months and the median rent reaching $613 a week.
“Other rising cost of living pressures are making the crisis worse, especially for low paid workers and those on benefits,” she said.
“With Central Coast rental vacancy rates of just 1.1 per cent, renters are being forced to look to a social and affordable housing system which is already bursting at the seams.
“There are already 56,000 households on the NSW social housing waiting list, including 3,137 on the Central Coast, highlighting the critical lack of supply.”
Robertshaw said Home in Place was eager to work with local developers who had shovel ready projects.
“We would love to hear from anyone interested in being part of the solution to the housing crisis,” she said.
“When government funding, private developers, and not-for-profit housing providers come together, great things can happen.”
The Housing Australia Future Fund was established in November last year and the Federal Government says it will help deliver 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the fund’s first five years.
Under the National Housing Accord, the Federal Government has committed to delivering an additional 10,000 new affordable homes over five years from 2024.
Round one applications for both programs close on March 22.
Home in Place is a not-for-profit community housing provider which manages more than 8,000 social and affordable housing properties in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, and New Zealand, including 862 on the Central Coast.
People can get in touch via homeinplace.org/partnerships