Newcastle and Lake Macquarie strong housing market 'pushing people closer to homelessness', according to Everybody's Home

The rental vacancy rate in Newcastle sat at just 0.7 per cent in March, according to Real Estate Institute of NSW data.

Rental prices in the Hunter region have also climbed by more than seven per cent over the past year, SQM Research data shows.

National homelessness campaign Everybody's Home claims this, in addition to rising house purchase prices, is pushing people closer to homelessness.

Related: Stories of homelessness told with hope that government will act

Research commissioned by Everybody's Home showed that homelessness in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie was projected to increase by 37.4 per cent in the 12 months to June 2021 and housing stress, which occurs when households have to pay too much of their income in housing costs, would increase by 78 per cent.

"It is now more important than ever for the Federal Government to invest directly into building social housing, provide adequate income support for our most vulnerable and provide an increase in rental support for those facing housing stress," Everybody's Home national spokesperson Kate Colvin said.

"Rising house prices push low and middle income households further behind in the race for home ownership, and stuck in rentals that keep increasing in price. Any change in income can push them close to homelessness."

Everybody's Home has made a pre-budget submission to the Federal Government calling for a joint Commonwealth/state-territory investment of $7.7 billion to construct 30,000 new homes over the next four years and a 50 per cent increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance to better subsidise private rental costs for low-income tenants.

Related: Hunter rental market 'crazy' in 2020, 'worse now'

Meanwhile, Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp has called on the NSW Government to provide greater investment in social housing in response to the ongoing rental crisis.

Figures the MP obtained through Budget Estimates showed that in the last five years 33 new properties were constructed in the Newcastle allocation zone and that 46 properties of three or more bedrooms had been sold-off in the last decade, but only 13 had been constructed in their place.

"It doesn't make a difference which service I speak to, they all have the same feedback," Mr Crakanthorp said.

"The demand for their help is growing, and these services are now seeing young couples and families seek them out who are desperate to find an affordable roof to put over their heads."

In a bid to address the crisis, Lake Macquarie City Council looks set to exhibit a draft plan which aims to support people in the city experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The plan includes actions such as liaising and meeting with tenancy and welfare services, investigating ways to support affordable housing opportunities and improving referral pathways.

A motion to exhibit the plan was endorsed earlier this month and looks set to be fully approved at this Monday's council meeting.

Councillor Kevin Baker said the council was "only as good as the support that we provide to those who need it the most".

"This plan that we are putting out there is a really, really good step in starting to attack this problem," he said.

"One of the things we hear people say in our community is we want these things and the second a DA is lodged that has the words 'affordable housing' in, we get inundated with a barrage of complaints essentially saying 'that's great but I don't want it near me'.

"This is something that I think individually as councillors and as a council we need to have a really good discussion with our community about.

"We're not going to end this inequity, we're not going to make inroads toward homelessness unless we actually start putting these in action."

Councillor John Gilbert said part of the issue with understanding homelessness was that it's not always visible.

"Most people afflicted by homelessness are concealed in overcrowded houses, living in sheds, living in cars but not in plain view," he said.

"I've been to the US, walked down the footpath and seen six people sleeping on the footpath. We don't have that in Lake Macquarie but we do have people sleeping rough."

Mayor Kay Fraser said she and Cr Gilbert a few years ago spent a night sleeping in their cars at a designated space for people who live in their vehicles.

"To do that just for one night I found that really difficult," she said.

"I know a lot of people who are homeless have mental issues. They might be fleeing a domestic violence situation. There's a whole range of issues why people are homeless.

"These people here are normal people just like us and it could be any one of us who could be homeless within a week or a month, it could be just a pay cheque away."

If approved, the plan will return to council for adoption following the public exhibition period.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: