Improved social housing waiting list data

Friday, 11 August 2023

The NSW Government is delivering on its promise to improve transparency of the social housing waiting list by providing up-to-date data.

Under the previous Government, information about the number of people on the social housing waiting list was published on an annual basis.

This made it incredibly hard for the community to understand the extent of the crisis as often the data was out of date by the time it was published. The current published data is more than a year old. Data covering both the general and priority waiting list will now be published monthly to give stakeholders, the sector and people waiting for social housing a clearer picture of need.

This means the NSW Government is able to identify trends over time to meet the demand for social housing.

Median waiting times for priority and general applicant households will be published on a quarterly basis to provide an accurate indication of how long applicants can expect to wait for housing in certain areas.

Previously, median waiting times were only published on an annual basis.

This initiative is part of a suite of NSW Government reforms to improve the social and affordable housing sector and address homelessness and housing insecurity.

Minister for Housing Rose Jackson said:

“Providing accurate and timely data about the number of people on the social housing waiting list and the median waiting times for particular locations is critical to understanding current and future demands.

“This is part of our commitment to transparency and being open with the community about the problems with the current social housing system.

“This is the harsh reality of our housing crisis. Everyday thousands of vulnerable people wait for the day they have a secure roof over their head. The only way we’re going to get them off the housing waitlist is by getting people into homes.

“Delivering more housing is crucial we’ve introduced as suite of planning reforms and commitments to deliver more social and affordable housing as a start, but there is so much more to do.

“Everyone deserves access to safe and secure shelter. We need to highlight the depth of housing crisis we’re in to keep the pressure on for the need to deliver more homes.”

Link to live data: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/help/applying-assistance/social-housing-waiting-list-data/