Latest figures how wait times for social housing up over 30 per cent in Wagga

The number of people waiting on the NSW housing register now sits at 51,031 according to the Department of Communities and Justice, up from 49,928 in 2021.

While the wait list in Wagga now sits at 658 people, up from 496.

Labor spokesperson for housing and homelessness Rose Jackson said these figures are likely to be an underestimate as they only count up to June 2022.

"That's the most up to date figures that we get, and it's very difficult to get data when [the government] releases the data very late," she said.

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She said a jump of 162 people in Wagga is "a quite significant increase" in only 12 months.

"I actually think the crisis is particularly bad in regional NSW, it's biting the hardest, we're seeing the biggest jumps," she said.

"Even that data that we do have I dont think paints the full story as we know a lot of people who don't even bother to put themselves on the waiting list.

"If you're in housing stress and you go to the housing office and they say the waitlist is two or three years, a lot of people don't even bother ... I think it's a real crisis in the regions."

Samantha Burman has been on the waitlist for three years and her partner Corey Stephenson have faced homelessness in 2022 as a result.

In September the pair were put up in temporary emergency accommodation by DCJ, but still have not been placed in a home. They've found a short term place to stay with friends in Leeton, but worry every day.

"I'm really desperate, I'd rather our own home," she said. "It hurts me knowing so many houses are vacant.

"It's my main worry everyday, as soon as I open my eyes, [housing is] my main concern."

The current wait for social housing is currently anywhere between two and five years for one, two and three bedroom properties, and between five and 10 years for anything over that.

However, the Minister for Families and Communities Natasha Maclaren-Jones said under the Liberal and National Government the number of people on the waitlist has almost halved.

"The Government has increased social housing in NSW by 9 per cent over 10 years, more than double the national figure of 4 per cent. NSW has more than 158, 000 social homes, which is more than Victoria and Queensland combined," she said.

A DCJ spokesperson told the Daily Advertiser that Data on the social housing waitlist is recorded by financial year and published annually. Over the past 12 months DCJ "assisted 90 households into social housing in Wagga", they said.

Ms Jackson said the private rental market isn't working for many people in NSW and is exacerbating the situation, and Labor have pledged to ban no grounds evictions and rent bidding.

But the real fix would be to build more social and affordable housing in the state, she said.

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