The Labor MPs of the Central Coast are calling on the State Government to provide immediate relief for renters under stress as they deal with an unprecedented number of enquiries from people who are homeless or facing homelessness due to eviction.
The MPs say rental vacancies on the Coast are at their lowest in recent memory and asking rents are at an all-time high.
They want the Government to step in and provide additional temporary accommodation support and additional rent relief.
More affordable accommodation needs to be provided in the medium to long term by building more public housing and facilitating more residential land release as a priority, they say.
Member for The Entrance, David Mehan, said for those seeking social housing the situation is dire with the Coast having less social housing than it did 10 years ago.
“On a daily basis my office assists people who are in desperate need seeking housing support,” Mehan said.
“After the biggest real estate boom in the state’s history, it is unacceptable that we have people who can’t find a home.
“Our housing system is completely broken.”
Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, said many were doing it tough in the wake of COVID-19.
“For the first time so many people who have never had to hold their hand out for support are having to and that’s very telling of the current economic pressure on families across the Central Coast,” she said.
Shadow Minister for the Central Coast, David Harris, said price gouging and bidding wars were pricing local families out of the market.
Source:
Media release, Mar 30
Central Coast Labor MPs