Minister for Planning Paul Scully, Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips, Minister for Environment Tanya Plibersek, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, SYFS CEO Narelle Clay, Member for South Coast Liza Butler and Member for Cunnigham Alison Byrnes. Photos: Keeli Royle.
Dozens of disadvantaged young people in the Illawarra will finally have the safety and security of a roof over their heads with a new social housing development opening in Warilla.
Southern Youth and Family Services (SYFS) are preparing to hand over the keys to 20 units which the charity’s CEO Narelle Clay said will help young tenants to get their lives back on track.
“Many of them are young people who’ve had quite difficult starts, and that could be because of poverty, could be because of housing stress, could be because of child abuse, could be because of family and domestic violence, could be because of other factors that exacerbate that such as disability, drug and alcohol abuse or mental health,” she said.
“It means they could now finish TAFE or education, it means they’ll be better able to get a job, it means they’ll have their own privacy, they can have their own way of living and I think it will make a significant difference to a better life for them.”
The first tenants could move in as early as Monday (24 July).
“We’re just waiting for the final occupation certificate,” Narelle said. “We know that a few of the people that have already been approved have their things in a car or packed up in a hallway ready to move, so there will be no delay.”
But applications are still flooding in, with many vulnerable people in the community desperate for a place to live.
Assistant Treasurer and Whitlam MP Stephen Jones said access to housing continued to be a major issue in our region.
“We’re in a housing crisis here in the Illawarra, there is zero affordable housing for young people and they’re either couch surfing or homeless,” Minister Jones said.
“The addition of 20 not only affordable social housing for young people in stress, but beautiful places, is a magnificent contribution to this challenge.”
But it’s not nearly enough to meet the increasing demand, with waiting lists for services still blowing out and only limited supply available.
“There’s 20 units which could mean between 20 and 40 young adults or families can be housed, we need 200 more immediately,” Narelle said.
“I’ve been around for 30 years in homelessness and housing and I’ve never seen it so bad and I’ve never seen people who are working and earning an income not being able to pay for housing, so you can imagine what that does for vulnerable people who aren’t able yet to work.”
The new units are adjacent to the SYFS community centre, with tenants to have access to vital support services.
“All the young people and families here get the same support that anyone would get across our organisation,” Narelle said. “They can participate in education training programs, there will be an on call system for people who need support, there is counselling, there is mediation, there’s living skills and social skills programs, basically anything we offer, people here will be able to access.”
The $10.5 million development was jointly funded by the State and Federal Governments but former housing minister Tanya Plibersek said what organisations like SYFS brought to the table was absolutely vital.
“It’s not just about bricks and mortar, it’s about love and support, that’s what this service offers,” she said.
“I heard so many stories through my time as housing minister, you never know who it will be who ends up homeless. And we have a responsibility as a society to make sure that safety net is there for people.”
Minister Plibersek said the Government wanted to build tens of thousands of new homes with its $10 billion fund but it had been hitting hurdles due to other parties in the Senate.
“We need to get building,” she said. “The most critical thing we could do now to build places like this would be having those Liberals, Nationals and Greens get out of the way so we could get the Housing Australia Future Fund operational.”
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