An Illawarra Tenants Group has labelled this week’s auditor-general’s report into social housing ‘‘damning’’, after findings showed fewer than half the people who need housing in NSW are being catered for.
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In the statewide audit released on Tuesday, Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat found social housing only met 44 per cent of need, even though NSW had the largest public housing portfolio in Australia.
Illawarra and South Coast Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service team leader Warren Wheeler believes the report shows there is simply not enough social housing to meet demand.
‘‘There is not enough social housing to go around and what is available is substandard,’’ he said.
‘‘Lack of property is a major contributor to many other social problems [and] we’re seeing people paying lower rent, resulting in lower revenue and less money being spent on maintenance.’’
The auditor-general said if current housing arrangements continued, public housing would likely either be run down or sold off.
‘‘Much of today’s public housing stock was planned years ago and is now the wrong size and in the wrong place,’’ he said.
Mr Wheeler agreed, noting some of the region’s older public housing no longer matched social needs.
‘‘The ideology about social housing has changed,’’ he said.
‘‘It used to be more about alternative affordable housing, whereas now, it’s more about providing homes for the greatest need.
‘‘Subsequently, those areas where there is the greatest need is not necessarily where the housing is.
‘‘Look at Warrawong. There is housing there but not enough infrastructure - there is no quality public transport, they don’t even have a Housing NSW office.’’
The audit also found many homes were under-occupied, with around 30 per cent of all three or more bedroom dwellings having just one or two people living in them.
But Mr Wheeler said the government’s proposed ‘‘bedroom tax’’ was not the answer.
He said opening public housing back up to a range of tenants, rather than just those most in need, would help solve some of the problems.
‘‘I’m in favour of mixed estates,’’ he said.
‘‘When you put a bunch of people with similar disadvantages in the one spot, it causes problems; the only way around this is to open housing back up to a genuine mix of people.
‘‘It breaks that cycle when people who are in public housing are paying lower rent so the department is not getting the money for maintenance.
‘‘Housing people who are employed allows them to contribute higher amounts, resulting in better revenues for properties.’’
The auditor-general said there were 55,000 eligible applicants on the social housing waiting list and some people had been waiting more than a decade to get a house.
He has urged the state government to prioritise matching household size to dwellings, moving tenants when their needs change and avoiding developing concentrated areas of the neediest tenants.
Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said the government would draw on the recommendations to continue to improve the system.
She blamed existing problems on the ‘‘mess’’ left behind by the previous Labor government.
- with AAP
