Local politicians were out in force on Saturday (November 10) to support plans to bring more affordable housing into the region.
Labor Mayor Mark Greenhill said: “We have to work to find innovative solutions to the issue of homelessness. There is no silver bullet. I suspect we will need, as a community, a suite of tools. There must also be sensible rules around where this can appropriately happen, having regard to bushfire and environmental factors.”
The mayor launched the garden flats expo at the Hub in Springwood with Labor’s Federal MP Susan Templeman.
It is a major community project by Wentworth Community Housing to “bring people together in a way that benefits both the land owner and the person needing a housing solution” he said.
“This idea is community-building and it is led at the very local level. There is a long way to go and the other levels of government must do more.
“With all the wealth we have in this nation it offends me that we talk about tax cuts to the big end of town while people need a roof over their heads,” Cr Greenhill said.
The idea for these projects followed several community forums after the award-winning Heading Home Ending Homelessness program was started more than two years ago by Wentworth Housing.
Wentworth’s Heading Home project manager Eva Gerencer is still offering guaranteed three-year rental packages to homeowners willing to build a garden flat to accommodate a homeless person.
“Three to five years is still pretty secure compared to private rental,” she has said.
Ms Gerencer said: “Waiting on federal and state government funding for the number of houses we need it’s not in the foreseeable future, we have to look at what we can do locally.
Another Wentworth spokeswoman said their group often had to resort to places like Gumtree to find emergency or share housing for people struggling to find a home.
Some low cost homes were on display at the event and could be built for under $16,000 (without services).
Wentworth is also still working with Blue Mountains, Penrith and Hawkesbury councils – as well as real estate agents, charities and government agencies, to find land sitting idle for the next five years which could potentially be turned into a tiny homes village for the homeless.
There are about 60,000 names on the NSW public housing list and an up to ten-year waiting list for that affordable housing.