CHIA NSW: More community housing critical as Anglicare snapshot shows private rental market is failing NSW households

29/04/2019

The Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot released today shows the urgent need for more social and affordable housing across NSW, the state’s not for profit housing sectors said today.

The 2019 snapshot shows that once again people on government support and minimum wage earners struggle to find anything affordable to rent in Sydney or most regional NSW areas.

CHIA NSW CEO, John McKenna said the 2019 snapshot released today shows that despite lower house prices in parts of Sydney, many low income renters are worse off than they were 12 months ago.

“After 10 years of the Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot the private rental market is still failing hundreds of thousands of households in Sydney and across the NSW,” Mr McKenna said.

“Unfortunately investment in social and affordable housing has fallen a long way behind rent increases and population growth, which means many households struggling in the private market have nowhere else to go.

“Waiting lists for social housing alone are up to a decade long in almost every part of Sydney and the Illawarra.

We also know there’s a shortfall of almost 140,000 social housing properties across the state right now, and we’ll need more than 300,000 social and affordable homes by 2036 to close the current gap and keep up with population growth.”

Mr McKenna said the NSW government has some good programs in place but they weren’t currently enough to meet overwhelming and growing demand.

Mr McKenna said not for profit community housing providers across NSW are ready to grow to meet demand with the right planning reforms, financial support and a commitment from all levels of government.

“We need more affordable rental options for households struggling everywhere in our state, particularly people with disability, aged pensioners, job seekers and families struggling to keep a roof over their heads on a minimum wage,” Mr McKenna said.

“Community housing providers already own and manage more than 35,000 properties in 115 council areas of NSW, providing affordable rent, care and support for our tenants and a range of high quality housing models for people in housing stress.

“We really need the State Government to prioritise the release a comprehensive Housing Strategy for the whole of NSW that spells out exactly when, where and how we can deliver the social and affordable housing our local communities need, wherever in NSW they live.