Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In my electorate on the New South Wales South Coast, we have been facing a regional housing crisis for years. Then came the bushfires, the floods and the pandemic. Make no mistake—this housing crisis is the new disaster. It needs immediate action and more temporary disaster accommodation. Let me explain why.

It is not okay for 50 families to be homeless at the Moruya North Head Campground. I hear stories each day of people coming into my office, pleading for help. Amy from Nowra is a single mother of seven children. She has exhausted all her emergency housing avenues, and now faces living on the streets because there are simply no three-bedroom houses available. My office has successfully gained her a nine-day emergency housing extension, but what then? All of our fabulous support services, like Salt Care community housing providers and the Homeless Hub, are working around the clock to help. Amy says that all she wants is a roof over their head, something we all deserve, and we are doing everything to help her.

There is the pregnant mother of two from Worrigee who has fled from domestic violence. She's applied for 50 private rentals and says that, because she has been honest about her situation, no-one will rent her a home. We've helped her access the Start Safely program and hope this will help.

Jade from Batehaven is in her late 60s. The owner of the house she called home for a decade asked her to leave so they could renovate. She ended up spending winter in her car, with her dog, because she couldn't find anywhere to live.

Anthony from Bomaderry is a young dad, engaged to his partner, and with two kids. He works full time in a supermarket but was on the cusp of homelessness. I wrote to the New South Wales housing minister and helped him secure private accommodation with a subsidy.

These are the heart-wrenching stories I am hearing every day. We are doing everything to help, but sometimes that is not enough. It's a cliche but it's true: there is no silver bullet for a decade of housing neglect.

In such a beautiful area like ours, there are a lot of people with holiday homes, and often they are empty most of the year. In a desperate bid to free up some housing quickly, the mayor of the Eurobodalla Shire wrote to all their non-resident ratepayers, asking if they would rent their houses out to help ease housing pressures. The mayor told the member for Eden-Monaro and me recently about the fantastic response they received. They have had over 150 interested homeowners. Thirty homes have now re-entered the rental market, which is a great response, but it isn't enough.

I recently met with Peter from Salt Care. He has some fabulous ideas about how we can turn a further 500 vacant homes across the Eurobodalla and the Shoalhaven into social and affordable homes for long-term rental. As part of the Collective Home Project, Salt will pay market rent, manage the maintenance and support the tenants, so that everyone can get what they need. Salt wants to work across all levels of government on this project, including incorporating the Eurobodalla mayor's tiny homes idea. It is absolutely incredible to see innovative ideas coming from our community sector. That's what we need: everyone working together.

This week I will be talking with the minister about that and seeing how we can help, but it's going to take time to address the systemic housing issues. We've started developing a National Housing and Homelessness Plan to guide our response. The government took another step last week, freeing up $575 million from the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, an underutilised program, to invest in social and affordable housing.

We want to support crisis and transitional housing options for women and children fleeing domestic violence. That's why I was proud to commit $1.5 million on the South Coast and Southern Highlands for additional crisis accommodation for women and children fleeing violence. We expect this will help as many as 135 women and children to find refuge and fund 13 workers to support 1,040 women. It's really important funding, and I know it will make a difference. We've got our Housing Australia Future Fund to create 30,000 social and affordable homes, including $30 million specifically allocated for housing and specialist support for veterans at risk or experiencing homelessness. All of this will be informed by the new National Housing Supply and Affordability Council. There is so much more work to be done. Housing is an incredibly complex issue, but we have started, we're working together and we will work hard to find solutions that will work for regional Australia.

See this speech in context