This was the situation in 2020 in the NSW Northern Rivers region......
House
of Representatives,
Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs,
Inquiry into homelessness in Australia: June
2020,
Social
Futures -Submission
141
Northern
NSW suffers from chronic homelessness issues. Like many regional
communities, it is characterised by relatively low incomes, lack of
employment opportunities, high welfare dependency, significant
pockets of social disadvantage, limited stocks of affordable housing
(especially in the coastal areas) and a lack of regular public
transport. The Northern NSW region has an above average Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander population at 4.4 per cent compared to the
national average of 2.9 per cent.
This
combination of high rents and a critical shortage of available rental
accommodation has created severe housing stress among a considerable
portion of the community, forcing many into homelessness. With the
growth in tourism in some coastal communities, property values have
soared and increasing numbers of dwellings are used as short term
rental accommodation for visitors and tourists, further reducing
available and affordable housing stock for people in the private
rental market.
The
Richmond Federal Electorate was ranked third highest across the whole
of Australia for rental stress at 43 per cent (7,390 households).
Housing
stress is particularly high among renter households at
38.8 per cent compared to 28.4 per cent for NSW and 28 per cent for
Australia.
The
four least affordable local government areas for renters in regional
NSW are located within the Northern Rivers.
The
average monthly rental vacancy rate for the Northern Rivers over the
12 months to April 2020 was 1.8 per cent. This is a very tight market
compared to Sydney where the vacancy rate is 3.4 per cent.
There
is substantial pressure in regional housing markets in NSW with most
of the regional markets surveyed recording average monthly vacancy
rates of 2 per cent or less over the same period.
While
the Northern Rivers only represents 4 per cent of the NSW population
the region recorded 18.7 per cent of the State’s rough sleepers on
Census night in 2016 (up from 18.4 per cent in 2011).
Affordable housing and rental stress remains an issue.....
The
Guardian,
6
February 2022:
In
the already Covid-stretched hospitals of northern New South Wales,
health workers are struggling with another growing pressure caused by
the pandemic.
House
prices have soared in Byron Bay and surrounding areas since Covid
lockdowns and work-from-home inspired many to flee the city for a sea
or tree change.
And
while the impacts on buyers or renters in the area have been well
documented, hospital workers say it’s having far-reaching effects
on the community’s health.
The
consequences of the housing crush are being felt at hospitals such as
Ballina, where nurse and New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’
Association (NSWNMA) representative Suzie Melchior works.
“That’s
not just staff struggling to get permanent housing, but we’ve seen
people who are almost itinerant,” she said.
“We’re
not used to people living out of their vehicles, their cars. That
seems to be a new thing.”
Every
additional stressor is being felt due to the surge in demand brought
on by Covid, and already prevalent GP shortages.
“They
don’t have a GP so they’re coming to us for their basic
healthcare needs,” Melchior said.
“They
know they’re not meant to be accessing emergency departments to get
their blood pressure medication or their gout medication but they
don’t have the option.”
Long-term
renter and mother of four Jenny – not her real name – is at
breaking point after two years of housing instability, and has seen
her health slide as a result.
“There
have been moments where I ask, ‘What’s the point in going on?’,”
she said. “My stress levels are through the roof. A human right to
safety and shelter – there’s nothing remotely close to that now.”
Jenny
has a month left at her short-term rental in Alstonville and after
months of searching still can’t find a secure and affordable next
step.
She
is considering buying a caravan or pitching a tent.
“I
wouldn’t have considered that in the past but what are our options?
What else can we do?” she said.
Melchior
said many patients were presenting without Medicare cards because
they didn’t have an address for them to be posted to, taking up
extra admin time that overworked staff didn’t have.
“There’s
a ripple effect,” she said.
“It
is small in the scheme of things but if you multiply that across how
many other people are having similar issues … it’s big.”
Another
local nurse – who wished to remain anonymous – said she was also
seeing more patients without a fixed address.
“Even
in the maternity unit we see it – new mums living in caravan parks
because they can’t find housing,” she told the Guardian……
The
Guardian,
25 January 2022:
Nearly
half of all people who sought help with homelessness last year in New
South Wales did not get it, a new report has shown.
According
to data from the Productivity Commission’s annual report on
government services, 48.2% of people in Australia’s most populous
state who asked for accommodation assistance from specialist
homelessness services in the 2020-2021 financial year went without.
That
figure represents a substantial increase from five years ago, when
37.2% of people did not receive the help they had requested.
The
Productivity Commission report, released on Tuesday, contains
detailed information on the performance of Australia’s social
support services, including housing, homelessness, aged care, youth
justice, child protection and more.
It
shows unmet requests for homelessness accommodation services are
increasing across Australia, from 30.2% of people going unassisted
nationally in 2016–2017, to 32.2% in the last financial year…..
Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2022: Housing and Homelessness, 25 January 2022:
Low
income earners are particularly susceptible to housing instability as
market factors lead to higher private housing prices. ‘Rental
stress’, defined as spending more than 30 per cent of gross
household income on rent, is a measure of housing affordability for
this cohort. In 2017-18, of the 27.1 per cent of Australian
households renting in the private sector, 43.4 per cent were low
income. Of these households, 50.2 per cent experienced rental stress
– largely unchanged over the past 10 years.
Of
low income households that were CRA [Commonwealth
Rental Assistance] recipients at end June 2021,
72.5 per cent would have experienced rental stress without CRA. With
CRA, 45.7 per cent still experienced rental stress…..
In
2021 the percentage of NSW households considered to be under rental
stress:
- At
more than 30% household income on rent.
Receiving
no housing assistance payment from the federal government – 75.2%;
With
rental assistance payment (CRA) from federal government – 48.5%.
- At
more than 50% household income on rent.
Receiving
no housing assistance payment from the federal government – 35.1%;
With
rental assistance payment (CRA) from federal government – 20.4%.
In
2020-21 there were 321,509 eligible dependent children living in
renting households which received Commonwealth Rental Assistance.
As
at 30 June 2021, nationally there was a total of 400 792 households
and 422 753 social housing dwellings (tenancy rental units for
community housing), excluding ICH
[Indigenous
Community Housing]. In addition, as at 30 June
2020 (latest available data), there were 16 363 households and 15 053
permanent dwellings managed by government funded ICH organisations.
The total number of low income households in all categories of social housing in NSW as of 30 June 2021 was 141,597.
The occupancy rate of all NSW social housing categories is high. Only between est. 3-5% of all social housing stock was available to new tenants on 30 June 2021.
There has been a marked rise in community housing stock in NSW. However this in part reflects a transfer of 13,465 public housing dwellings (under management or held by title) to community housing organizations between 1 July 2018 & 30 June 2021, rather than an significant increase in total social housing stock numbers overall.
For decades the NSW Government has indulged in shifting deck chairs around on the Titanic rather than addressing the sinking proportion of social and affordable housing in the overall for sale or rental residential housing mix.
By 2019 the NSW shortfall in social and affordable housing projected unmet need was est. 316,700 units by 2036 - est. 99,700 of those units representing the shortfall in rural & regional New South Wales.
SOCIAL HOUSING STOCK NSW 30 JUNE 2012 to 30 JUNE 2021