HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Public Interest Debate

Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown) (17:28): I congratulate the member for Lake Macquarie on moving this motion. My electorate of Charlestown adjoins Lake Macquarie. I am sure the member hears the same kinds of stories that my office hears. His staff would hear the same kinds of stories I am sure every person who has spoken on this side also hears. We have the same kind of experience with housing affordability, the rental crisis and a lack of supply of social housing. Firstly, it was remiss of me when I spoke earlier today on the children's guardian bill not to congratulate the new Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, the member for Ku-ring-gai. I congratulate him on his new role and look forward to working with him to deal with issues of families, communities and homelessness in my electorate.

This housing crisis is being experienced on three fronts. The first is home ownership. In the past 10 years, the decade that this Government has been in power, home ownership rates have continued to decrease because people just cannot afford to get into the property market. In the Charlestown electorate the median house price rose from $443,051 in May 2011 to $730,758 in May 2021. That is an increase of 60 per cent in just one decade. Increasing house prices might sound like a good thing if one owns own property or is an investor, but more and more people are giving up on ever owning their own home—more young people and more people who have had changes in family circumstances. They are giving up on the security and stability that home ownership brings and are resigning themselves to being forever renters.

That brings me to the second part of the housing crisis, and that is rental property availability and affordability. In some parts of my electorate rents have increased by as much as 30 per cent in just 12 months, and this surge in rents is being driven by the lowest sustained rental vacancy rate in decades. The current rental vacancy rate in the Charlestown electorate is the incredibly low and difficult 0.4 per cent. People in full employment with great rental references are lining up with dozens of others.

Absolutely, they cannot find a rental property. If they can, they have to line up with hundreds of other people, apply and eventually find out that their application is unsuccessful. In February I spoke in this place about a constituent of mine—whom I will call Mary—who is 79 years old and who received a no‑cause eviction. She was unable to secure another rental property for her and her 52-year-old disabled son. She is still unable to find a rental property. Last Wednesday her story was featured on the front page of the Newcastle Herald. Next month she turns 80 and she is still looking for somewhere to rent. Sadly, she is not the only older woman who has reached out to my office seeking assistance following a no-cause eviction. In fact, women over 50 are the fastest-growing cohort of people facing homelessness. That is backed up by local specialist homelessness services such Nova for Women and Children in my electorate.

When someone cannot afford to buy a home and cannot find one to rent, they only have one option left and that is social housing. Social housing is the third front on which this housing crisis is being fought. In the 10 years that this Government has been in power, it has sold off $2.1 billion worth of social housing while reinvesting far less. I know this because those figures were provided by Ministers to my questions on notice. Clearly about half a billion dollars less has been spent over that time. The Government's current asset recycling approach to fund social housing is not sustainable and is resulting in far fewer social housing beds for people who desperately need them. The wait for social housing in my area is longer than 10 years.

When someone cannot afford to buy, cannot afford to rent and cannot afford to wait 10 years for social housing, it is highly likely that they will be facing homelessness. Just last Friday afternoon three people, all unknown to each other and all facing homelessness, arrived in my office. One was couch surfing, one had been homeless for seven years and arrived at the office with her luggage, and the third was desperately trying to extend her temporary housing accommodation budget allowance so that she would not be thrown out of the hotel room she had been living in. There truly is a housing crisis in New South Wales, particularly in regional areas. It is terrifying to see and absolutely emotionally exhausting to deal with. The problem has been years in the making and the Government needs to fix it. I support the motion.

This speech was given as part of a Public Interest Debate in support of the following Motion:

That this House:

1. Notes the current housing crisis in New South Wales.
2. Notes that housing costs in New South Wales and in particular regional areas have skyrocketed over the past year.
3. Notes that rental vacancies in some regional areas are at their lowest levels in decades.
4. Notes the rising number of homeless and that social housing is in drastically short supply.
5. Calls on the Government to take immediate steps to improve housing affordability in New South Wales and urgently increase investment in social housing in regional areas.

You can read the rest of the debate on Hansard.