2021-06-22
Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown and NSW Greens spokesperson on Housing and Homelessness has slammed the NSW Liberal/National Government’s 2021 budget which demonstrates they have no plan to end the housing and homelessness crisis for people across NSW even though they have the money and the solutions to do so.
“Today the NSW Liberal Treasurer said it was his job to imagine a ‘better future for everyone’, and yet there is no vision in this budget for a better future for those suffering housing stress, languishing on the public housing waiting list or seeking to find affordable places to live.
“Yet again, the NSW Liberal National Coalition has made a choice to ignore the massive, and ever-growing, housing inequality in this state by instead choosing to announce some small scale measures and spin them as a good news story.
“The Treasurer’s boast of an investment of $360m in social housing to deliver 800 new homes and 16,500 upgrades when there are 48,000 approved applications - likely close to 100,000 people - on the waiting list now for social housing stands as an insulting and paltry allocation compared to the $108.5 billion total infrastructure spend.
“The $57 million allocated over two years to the Together Home program is a welcome recognition that a housing first approach works - but it is a drop in the ocean when you consider this is for 100 homes and 250 wrap-around packages across the state - and that the most recent City of Sydney street count found over 500 people sleeping rough or in crisis or temporary accommodation in this single LGA.
“The Treasurer claimed to care about keeping people safe and to be delivering cost of living measures to reduce the financial pressure on people and families, but failed to deliver on any reforms to help renters deal with the biggest expense in their weekly budget - unaffordable rents.
“This budget ignores the overwhelming evidence and recommendations from across the housing sector which call for urgent action to deliver investment in affordable and social housing.
“Releasing 18,000 greenfield housing blocks in South West Sydney will not help Sydney’s housing affordability crisis as there is no plan to make any of this housing affordable or social.
“More supply does not mean more affordability, supply alone does not solve this crisis, which is why the Greens are committed to delivering 30,000 new public homes every year to end this human-made crisis - so that everybody has a safe, secure, habitable and affordable place to live.”
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