The Greens are calling on the NSW Labor Government to go further than their announced extension of temporary accommodation from 2 days to 7 days, and remove the cap entirely, to keep people safe and work towards ending homelessness.
Jenny Leong, Member for Newtown and Greens Spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness said:
“The Greens are calling for the limit on temporary accommodation to be scrapped, it would be near impossible for anyone to find long-term, secure housing in just 7 days - let alone people experiencing crisis.
“Extending the limit on temporary accommodation by just 5 days when the public housing waiting list in some areas is 10+ years, there is a dire shortage of transitional housing options, and affordable rentals in the private housing market are non-existent, is not enough.
“Any limit on temporary accommodation fails to put vulnerable people’s needs first - it is not a stable solution and means too many people will be forced back into unsafe situations.
“The limits on temporary accommodation need to be scrapped entirely, alongside a massive investment in specialist support services, so we can move to a Housing First approach in NSW that will end homelessness and keep people safe.
“Temporary accommodation should only end when someone is at the point of securing safe, affordable, ongoing housing.”
Abigail Boyd, Greens Spokesperson for Gendered Violence and Abuse said:
“We are in the middle of a housing and cost of living crisis. It’s almost impossible to find permanent accommodation, be approved and move somewhere within a week. It’s not just an unrealistic expectation, it's a dangerous one.
“Limiting crisis accommodation is one of the largest obstacles to escaping violence. The 7-day period is still 3 weeks short of the period that experts in the DFV sector have been calling for as their minimum ask, for years now.
“This government is still asking victim-survivors, at a time when we know they are at the most risk of harm, to scramble to secure accommodation within a week.
"We had expected this new Labor government to make tackling the domestic violence crisis in our state a far higher priority. They know the stories, they know the evidence, it's time they act on it.”
