More investment needed in housing to solve homelessness

Responding to the NSW government’s homelessness strategy, the local government peak is calling for greater investment in public and social housing.

“The strategy notes that a key contributor to our current challenges with homelessness includes historic under-investment in public and social housing. While we have seen some good initial investment by the NSW government in recent years, far more is needed,” Local Government NSW President Phyllis Miller said.

“LGNSW continues to call for the NSW government to build 5,000 additional units of public and social housing each year for the next 10 years,” she added.

In its submission to a draft of the strategy – which shifts the focus from crisis management to prevention and support – LGNSW also called for the NSW government to recognise and work with councils to solve homelessness across the state, which has significantly worsened over the last decade with services failing to keep up.

Councils, when appropriately resourced and supported, can do so much.

Once a concern of mainly inner-city councils, the impacts are now spreading further afield with many councils in rural and regional locations reporting rising numbers of people street sleeping. 

The experience of rural-regional councils is often quite different to their city counterparts, with less local services to work with, smaller budgets and fewer dedicated or trained staff. For many of these communities, homelessness is a new phenomenon and response efforts are often viewed as beyond local government’s capabilities or responsibilities.

Miller was pleased then that the released strategy includes a focus on strengthening roles and relationships with local councils, which she said “play a key part in developing connected and resilient communities and reducing homelessness through the management of public spaces.”

While acknowledging that the state government has primary responsibility for responding to homelessness, Miller said: “We know that councils, when appropriately resourced and supported, can do so much. As the NSW government now moves to implement this strategy, investment and resourcing will be key.”