A new $9 million social housing project in Warilla will aim to help alleviate housing stress and prevent young people from becoming homeless.
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The NSW government is partnering with Southern Youth and Family Services to deliver homes for young people and families at risk of homelessness, which will be built on the site of the organisation's headquarters in Warilla.
The NSW government is contributing $4.82 million to the project, which will provide 20 new homes, including a mix of bedsit, and one and two-bedroom units.
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The building will be linked with Southern Youth and Family Services' headquarters, where tenants will be able to access counselling, health and wellbeing services, education, training and employment support.
Southern Youth and Family Services CEO Narelle Clay said they acquired the land in 2014, and had long planned to build supported accommodation, social housing and a community hub on the site.
This project marked the final stage of that process.
The plans were completed and DA approved last year, and they had since sought funding to undertake it.
Ms Clay said the investment would help alleviate housing stress and prevent people from becoming homeless.
It will aim to assist young people and young families from the Illawarra, with tenants to be drawn from the social housing waiting list.
"This project will make such a difference to young people and young families who have found themselves homeless or at risk of homelessness," Ms Clay said.
"The people that move into these new homes will have a safe and secure place to live - without the heartache, stress and dangers that go with being homeless.
"At a time when incomes can be very low, when there's not enough adequate affordable housing in the private market, and a 10-year waiting list for public housing, I think it's an amazing thing that we can get this happening.
"The sooner we address the shortage of affordable housing and low incomes the better, because people are really suffering."
The early excavation work for the project has been completed, with fully fledged construction set to get underway in September.
It is scheduled to be completed in December 2022.
The project is funded through the NSW government's Community Housing Innovation Fund.
"This partnership between government and the non-government sector will produce brand new units for the people who need them most, close to shops and key services," Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Alister Henskens said.
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