Action needed to fix housing crisis

AS THE recession bites deeper, more people will find it difficult to find an affordable and accessible home to rent on the Northern Rivers.

So our hearts go out to Tanya Turner and her son, Hayden, who have been homeless in Ballina for seven months, with little hope of finding anything suitable in the near future.

Only yesterday, the NSW Government announced that reform was required in the rental sector due to a shortage of available properties across the State.

Housing Minister David Borger told a community housing conference in Sydney that NSW’s rental shortage was a major concern. And with building approvals for flats and townhouses the lowest they have been since 1987, things are unlikely to improve any time soon.

State Ballina MP Don Page is right when he says we need to support the construction of more public housing, as well as rental subsidies. We cannot allow families like Ms Turner and her son to end up being separated, simply because they cannot afford suitable accommodation.

Investors need to be given more incentives to meet the demands of low-income housing needs so that people do not end up homeless and abandoned.

With future population growth levels rising this issue is going to get worse.

It is not going to go away on its own.