NSW continues to grapple with a homelessness crisis, with about 68,000 people seeking assistance from homelessness services annually over the past two years.
New figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, reveal that 67,900 people sought help for homelessness between July 2023 and June 2024, closely matching the 68,400 recorded the previous year.
“These alarming figures show that NSW’s homelessness crisis remains entrenched and unresolved — and we must do more to fix it,” Homelessness NSW CEO Dominique Rowe said.
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The primary drivers of homelessness were identified as housing crises, financial hardship, and family or domestic violence.
Despite seeking help, the data reveals that many people’s needs were not able to 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 needing short-term or emergency accommodation faced the same issue.
“Demand is so great that more people are turned away than helped,” said Rowe.
“Every day, frontline workers witness the human cost of a system stretched to its limits.”
Alarmingly, about half of those seeking assistance over 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 troubling”.
Indigenous Australians remain disproportionately affected, accounting for 33 per cent of those seeking help in NSW, compared with the national average of 29 per cent.
Homelessness NSW is urging the NSW Government to allocate an additional $96 million annually to the Specialist Homelessness Services program and commit $2 billion each year over the next decade to deliver 10,000 new social housing properties annually.
“Homelessness Services are doing everything they can, but without the housing and funding to back them, the situation will only worsen. We need stronger action, and we need it now,” said Rowe.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has been approached for comment.