Public housing in NSW sitting empty as waiting list tops 60,000
Updated
There are growing calls for the New South Wales Government to fix derelict and run-down public housing properties, as the state's waiting list passes 60,000 people.
Key points:
- The waiting list for public housing in NSW has about 60,000 people on it
- However, a report has revealed there are more than 1,500 empty houses
- One woman waiting for a home said she does not eat sometimes, in a bid to make ends meet
A productivity commission report shows there are 1,537 vacant public housing properties.
Opposition housing spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk said the Government's priorities were wrong.
"They're letting these properties sit idle," she said.
"Why? We don't know, it could be maintenance issues it could be they're waiting to fatten up the properties for sale.
"What we do know is they are depriving thousands of families from the opportunity to live in their own home."
Carleen Gaul has been on the waiting list for three years.
She lives in a one-bedroom flat above a florist in Chester Hill.
"I went there three years ago when I couldn't work anymore and they said I'd be waiting 20 years for a one-bedroom flat and I'm 62 this year and I thought, I'm going to be dead before I get a place," she said.
After paying her rent of $250 a week she's left with $150 to buy food and pay bills.
"Sometimes I go a couple of days without eating, I drink a lot of water and coffee, because I have to to get by because I'm a battler," she said.
It is not just families and singles waiting for public housing, there are thousands of homeless people waiting as well.
Peter Jerrard lives on the streets in Martin Place and has been on the public housing waiting list for almost four years.
He said he could not afford private rental accommodation and he is out of work as a furniture removalist.
"You can't get a job or anything because you've got no stable accommodation," he said.
"When you go for jobs they want to know where you live, if you have a stable address."
Support services such as Homelessness NSW want more public housing but they also say the Government needs to increase its quota of affordable housing so those on the lowest incomes can rent private accommodation.
"A housing strategy is needed to address the issue which includes inclusionary zoning, it's great to see the greater Sydney Commission proposing 5 to 10 per cent but we think around 30 per cent is the way we can really address the affordable housing issue," the organisation's chief executive, Katherine McKernan, said.
The ABC has asked the NSW Government for a response.
Topics: government-and-politics, housing, welfare, community-and-society, nsw, sydney-2000, chester-hill-2162
First posted
