State Budget: Hunter MPs concerned about lack of new social housing builds for region as homelessness becomes a critical issue

With no money in the state budget for new social housing builds in the Newcastle electorate and very little for maintenance and upgrades across the Hunter - local MPs and service providers are deeply concerned about people already struggling to keep a roof over their heads.

"The need for more social housing has never been greater," Home in Place research and public affairs manager Martin Kennedy said.

"A few years ago the NSW government was the standout when it came to social housing, but the issue has fallen off the radar when the problems facing renters have never been more severe.

"We've got rental vacancies below one per cent, creating double digits in rent and with wages only going up by 2.5 per cent a year - that's not a good combination in the Hunter."

Home in Place is one of Australia's largest non-government social housing providers and manages 3900 properties across the Hunter.

Mr Kennedy said the most recent figures show 2500 households are on the waiting list for social housing in the greater Hunter region, he suspects that number has grown astronomically since June last year.

"People out there are in housing stress, paying more than 30 per cent of their income to keep a roof over their heads," he said.

"These people are out there paying full whack in the private rental market, stressed out of their minds, where in some parts of the state there aren't even properties to rent at any price.

"The NSW government used to be at the head of the pack with social housing, but for whatever reason that support seems to have disappeared in terms of new funding agreements.

"This isn't simply a problem that affects 'poor people' or low-income people, it has been working its way up the income distribution for years."

Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp has 1500 people on the waiting list for social housing in his electorate, he said the focus should be on putting a roof over people's heads before the state government looks at stamp duty and land tax.

"They're trying to shift around the tax implications of property at the moment and for homeless people or people on the margins of our society that's not even something that's mildly on their radar," he said.

The flow-on impacts of not enough social housing are felt across the community, Urban Development Institute of Australia Hunter chair Geoffrey Rock said.

"We have a very restricted supply of land, so without government intervention the private market will always outstrip social housing, it needs government intervention," he said.

"It comes back to supply in the overall market, affordable housing is part of that social mix, but what happens when you don't get new supply into the system and people are forced to move back into their rental properties?

"It pushes people down the line, because rent increases mean rent isn't affordable - so they are dropping off the bottom end of the market."

The state budget did identify $6.6 million to deliver new and upgraded quality homes for First Nations people in the Hunter through the Aboriginal Housing Office.

There was $3.2 million identified for upgrades to existing social housing owned by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation but no line item for new works.

Housing supply is a major issue in Maitland, local MP Jenny Aitchison said, where workers who have moved to the region can't find a home.

"We have families with two incomes struggling to find housing because all they need is their landlord to sell," she said.

"They haven't got any estimated expenditure to the end of this year - they did nothing last year with new housing supply.

"If we don't have enough social housing it takes up all the other affordable housing because they have to go to lower cost rentals, which takes those out of the market."

Homelessness only continues to grow in Wallsend, where local MP Sonia Hornery said women over 50 and young people are particularly affected.

"We have lots of young people in Wallsend that are actually living under bridges and couch-surfing, my community services are telling me that," she said.

"If there was a big disappointment it was the lack of public housing.

"That is the most critical need of all and yet the government hasn't really addressed that."

The sentiment was echoed by Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison who said she was deeply disappointed in the lack of social housing spend compared to last year's budget.

The NSW Land and Housing Corporation was contacted for comment.

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