Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan today called on the State Government to outline its plan to address a serious shortfall in social and affordable housing on the Northern Beaches.

Council’s recently released Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) identifies an unmet demand for 8100 social and affordable dwellings and a projected demand for 2000 more by 2036.

In addition, the first ever Northern Beaches Homeless Street Sleeping Count was conducted in February, identifying more than 70 people sleeping rough.

“Homelessness Week gives us an opportunity to shine a light on the need for more social and affordable housing options, particularly here on the Northern Beaches where renting costs are so high.

“While our local homeless count revealed 71 rough sleepers, we know of hundreds more in short-term or crisis accommodation or couch surfing with friends or relatives, simply unable to afford somewhere to call home.

“Waits for social housing can be longer than 10 years. Tell that to a family with a 2year old who is living out of their car!

“With so many job losses during COVID-19, and changes to the job support packages coming, concern is growing about how many more people living day to day might find themselves without a roof over their head.

“We really need to consider better social and affordable housing options to ensure we can support the growing numbers of people in need.”

Council’s Affordable Housing Policy commits to, among other things, a 10% affordable housing target for all planning proposals, urban renewal or greenfield development. Increasing the supply of affordable and rental housing is a key priority area in the LSPS and will be included in the draft Local Housing Strategy under development.

Council also works closely with housing and homelessness services, including through a new interagency and a new case coordination group to triage and fast-track solutions for people sleeping rough on the Northern Beaches.

Mayor Regan said the issue needed attention by all levels of government.

“At the Council level we are doing as much as we can to put mechanisms in place to support social and affordable housing.

“But often local government and community organisations are left to do the heavy lifting and we need both the state and federal level to commit to solutions too.

“Across Greater Sydney, the social housing stock has decreased from 5.5% in 2001 to 4.6% in 2016, but the Northern Beaches social housing stock is around 1.7%, which is well below national and state standards.

“In 2019 the government announced an agreement to halve street homelessness in NSW by 2025.

“That target highlights the need for a realistic investment to provide adequate levels of social housing on the Northern Beaches,” Mayor Regan said.

The NSW Government has provided dozens of people on the Northern Beaches with temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and local services are going above and beyond to provide pathways for people into permanent housing through the Together Home project.

“This initiative demonstrates that by taking a Housing First approach and adequately funding the necessary support services and accommodation options, we can change lives and help put an end to homelessness.”

The Homeless Street Sleeping Count was undertaken on a single night in February from 10pm to 2am, and involved six teams of experienced staff from the Council, the Department of Communities and Justice, together with local housing and homeless specialists Bridge Housing, Mission Australia and Community Northern Beaches.

The teams used a ‘hotspot’ approach, going to well-known locations where people sleep rough, as well as car parks and roadside locations at beaches to include people sleeping in vehicles.

The count found a total of 71 people sleeping in open spaces, parks, public-roofed spaces, makeshift dwellings or a form of transport with the largest subset people sleeping in vehicles.