NSW minister concedes social housing situation ‘desperate’ as waitlist for most in need doubles in a decade

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 19:35:03 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/11/nsw-minister-concedes-social-housing-situation-desperate-as-waitlist-for-most-in-need-doubles-in-a-decade>

"New South Wales’s priority social housing waitlist has doubled in less than a
decade and surged by 1,000 to 7,573 over the past year, as wait times continue
to rise across the state.

New data from the Department of Communities and Justice, to be released on
Friday, will reveal the extent of a crisis that the housing minister, Rose
Jackson, has conceded is “desperate” and “confronting”.

“The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem,” Jackson
said. “We do have a problem and we’re trying to be open about that.”

Data shows the number of applications on the combined priority and general
waitlist grew from 57,889 in July last year to more than 60,000 in January
before it dropped to 55,880 in June.

But the priority list for those most in need grew consistently month on month
over the past year, from 6,473 last July 2022 to 7,573 in June.

“It is a direct consequence of vulnerable people who are already in a difficult
situation in the housing market being really pushed,” Jackson said.

There were 3,688 applicants on the priority list in 2015 and it has since more
than doubled.

Median wait times have also increased to up to three months for those on the
priority list. Applicants on the general list can expect to wait 22.5 months
before being allocated a home."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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