Submission to the Audit Office of NSW: Responses to Homelessness

Everyone deserves a home. Housing is the basis from which we ensure our communities’ well-being. This is not simply about the material, physical and structural protections housing provides, but also a sense of home and belonging within a wider community. The NSW housing system, and in particular the private rental market, has failed to ensure everyone has access to safe, secure, affordable housing. This failure increases both the risk of homelessness for vulnerable renting households, and the barriers to people developing a pathway out of homelessness.

This submission focuses on the insufficient protections and supports provided for people who rent their homes. We outline a range of policy and legislative reforms to our rental housing system/s to address the three focus areas identified in the NSW Homelessness Strategy 2018-2023: intervening early and preventing crisis, providing effective supports and responses, and creating an integrated, person-centred service system. This submission also provides feedback on the department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.