Families in Sydney left waiting 10 years for housing - The Daily Telegraph

Dean Hargraves with his partner Vanessa Anderson and their daughter Lexi Hargraves, 13 months / Picture: Liam Driver Source: News Limited

THE public housing waiting list has blown out to more than 57,000 applicants, and western Sydney families have faced the sharpest increase in waiting times across the state.

Community services minister Pru Goward will today release the details of the public housing wait list, showing that in the past year, 38 per cent of western sydney areas have seen an increase in more than five years in the amount of time it takes an applicant to be housed.

Among the worst affected suburbs are Mount Druitt and Camden, where the wait for one bedroom units increased from between two and five years to more than 10 years.

In Parramatta and Blacktown, the wait for two bedroom properties increased from between five and 10 years to more than 10 years.

Ms Goward said that in the same period, more than 3,000 people changed their preferred suburb for housing because of her decision last year to publish the average waiting times for each region.

In the last year, the waiting list increased by four per cent from 55,479 in 2012 to 57,451.

Ms Goward said that while she did not want to see the wait list increase, she was pleased it did not spike to the Auditor General’s prediction of more than 64,000 applicants vying for 35,000 vacant rooms.

‘’The fact that the number of people who have changed their application for housing has almost tripled since the publication of the housing waiting list shows the power of the transparency and the benefits that flow from it,’’ Ms Goward said.

“Unfortunately the evidence shows that tenants are staying in public housing for significantly longer periods, which means that they are not moving out of public housing and back into the private market.

“There are over 35,000 vacant bedrooms in public housing. Until we better utilise our existing stock of public housing, I can’t look the taxpayer in the eye and ask for more money,’’ she said.

The average tenancy in NSW public housing is 12 years, and more than 50 per cent of tenants stay in public housing for more than 10 years.

Ms Goward said she was working to reduce public housing waiting times by regularly updating waiting lists by region, charging tenants a “tax” for vacant bedrooms, and cracking down on people illegally living in public housing properties.

Until last year, Dean Hargraves, who is on a disability pension, had been on the public housing wait list in Gosford for five years.

Last year, together with his partner Vanessa Anderson and one year old daughter Lexi, he looked up the average wait time for Gosford and realised he could be stuck living in a spare room for another 10 years.

‘’We were staying at mum’s, we kept looking for a place, trying to get a break,’’ Mr Hargraves said.

Mr Hargraves said that when he saw that waiting times in Singleton were less than a year at the time, he applied and was housed within a month.

‘’It was definitely a big relief. Now we are so much better,’’ he said.