New research has revealed the number of households eligible for social housing in NSW may be up to 261% higher than official waiting lists suggest.
A discussion paper, Estimating Current and Future Demand for Social Housing Assistance, was released last week by Hunter-based not-for-profit social and affordable housing provider Compass Housing Services.
It used census data to estimate the true extent of existing social housing demand in Australia and models the potential future demand that could be created by shifts in the labour market due to automation and artificial intelligence.
The report claims there are currently more than 48,000 households on the waiting list for social housing in NSW – the highest number of any state in Australia.
Average waiting times for social housing in the Hunter are between five and 10 years, depending on the type of property.
“Income and asset data from the last census suggest that there are an additional 127,000 households eligible for social housing who have, as yet, chosen not to apply,” the paper’s author, Martin Kennedy, said.
“If every household in NSW who met the eligibility criteria for social housing decided to apply, waiting lists across the state would increase by more than 261%.”
“The number of households eligible for social housing but not currently living in it, is equivalent to approximately 21 per cent of all renting households in NSW.
“In Sydney the figure is 15% and, in regional areas such as the Hunter, it is 34%,” he said.
Mr Kennedy said the state government’s Future Directions for Social Housing policy was the most ambitious of its kind.
However, he claimed it only proposed enough dwellings to house less than half the current waiting list over a 10-year period.
The report makes six recommendations, some of which include increasing the supply of social and affordable housing; stronger protections for private renters; stricter residential mortgage lending; and more effective re-skilling and transition programs for displaced workers.
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