NSW continues to struggle with its homelessness crisis, with around 68,000 people seeking help from homelessness services annually over the past two years.
New figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Social Care reveal that 67,900 people sought help for homelessness between July 2023. and June 2024, which is close to the 68,400 recorded the previous year.
“These worrying figures show that NSW’s homelessness crisis remains entrenched and unresolved – and we need to do more to fix it,” Homelessness NSW chief executive Dominic Rowe said.
The main causes of homelessness were identified as housing crises, financial difficulties and family or domestic violence.
Despite seeking help, the data reveals that many people’s needs cannot be met.
A total of 76 per cent of people seeking long-term housing support were unable to access it, and 49 per cent of those in need of short-term or emergency accommodation faced the same problem.
“The demand is so high that more people are being turned away than helped,” Rowe said.
“Every day, frontline workers witness the human cost of a system stretched to its limits.”
Worryingly, around half of those seeking help in the past two years were already homeless when they reached out, a proportion that rose from 50 per cent last year to 53 per cent this year – a trend Rowe described as “deeply worrying”. .
Indigenous Australians remain disproportionately affected, accounting for 33 per cent of help-seekers in New South Wales, compared to the national average of 29 per cent.
Homelessness NSW is calling for the NSW Government to commit an extra $96 million a year to the specialist homeless services program and commit $2 billion each year over the next decade to provide 10,000 new social homes a year.
“Homeless services are doing everything they can, but without housing and funding to support them, the situation will only get worse. We need stronger action, and we need it now,” Rowe said.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has been approached for comment.
