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The housing and homelessness crisis in regional New South Wales has reached crisis point, with legal advisers desperately asking for help.
Legal Aid NSW says services provided to clients who lose their homes have increased by 53 per cent in the past year.
Most of the calls for help came from the local area, where a combination of lumberjacks and heavy flooding has decimated the rental market.
“There is no social housing available,” a legal aid recipient, Joel Renshaw, told AAP.
The Gubbagunyo man and Lismore resident left his temporary accommodation in February due to flooding and moved into his mother’s one bedroom flat.
Since he was not the owner of his mother’s lease, he was homeless after he moved out.
Aid Act support, along with support from local MP Janelle Saffin, allowed her to stay in a one-bedroom rental despite the policy’s technical failure, according to and him.
Renshaw, who lives with a disability, said it’s not as easy as some critics say to get a job and find a private rental.
“I’ve worked most of my life until the injury—it’s very difficult to live on government benefits, without people like Legal Aid to push you,” he said.
“(Home) is a cornerstone, a foundation for a person’s life and well-being.”
Legal aid solicitor Natalie Bradshaw said calls for help had increased significantly over the past two years.
“Local governments are bearing the brunt,” he said.
“Housing problems are one of the biggest civil law areas for our clients, and these problems are often intertwined with other legal issues.
“An increasing number of clients need legal help to save their rent or access the support they need to take the first steps to overcome homelessness. .”
The Productivity Commission said in September that the National Housing and Non-National Housing Agreement failed to address the problem and focused on systems rather than people.
Among many of the recommendations, it called for reforming retirement savings and reallocating first-time homebuyer mortgage loans to programs that help those most at risk of homelessness.
The NSW government on Thursday released figures showing 2500 land leases and almost 30,000 homes were approved in the September quarter.
“Housing is difficult to provide and affordable, there is no single solution, but we are making infrastructure and supply very affordable, to help home buyers get started and invest in social housing, affordable and Aboriginal homes,” NSW planning officer Monica Gibson said.
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Australian Associated Press is an Australian news agency.
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