Hopes for 'out of the box' answers to bridging Wagga's housing woes

Wagga deputy mayor Amelia Parkins and councillor Jenny McKinnon are looking for support from fellow councillors at the fortnightly meeting as they call for a report into "out of the box" solutions to the city's social housing crisis.

The pair have lodged a notice of motion surrounding council-owned housing opportunities, citing the critical shortage within the local government area.

Cr McKinnon and Cr Parkins' motion calls for a report from council staff that outlines "potential programs and options to address housing availability and affordability".

"Our most vulnerable are being left behind," the motion reads.

"Council is in a unique position where it has positive working relationships with a variety of industry groups.

"Now is an opportunity to think outside the box and bring together key stakeholders from across our community to work through options for how we can help meet the demand for community housing."

A single mother with two children fleeing domestic violence will most likely not be able to find a single rental home in Wagga that she can afford.

With local transitional and crisis accommodation at capacity, victims of domestic violence are faced with a choice between homelessness or returning to violent homes, the councillors outline.

The proposed report would include a review of council owned or managed assets that could be used as affordable housing, and could also identify short-term and longer-term opportunities to assist providers in approaches that lead to increasing supply.

"I'm hoping it will reveal that council has some resources that might have been overlooked," Cr McKinnon said.

"For example, there might be some council land or there might be a building that could be renovated to make it available."

The councillors are hoping to draw upon existing relationships with industry partners to work together to find new solutions.

Cr Parkins said that there has previously been some reluctance from council to enter the affordable housing sector because of concerns that they would be replicating services that already exist.

However, both Cr Parkins and Cr McKinnon believe council has the opportunity to use their existing community partnerships with services to find "creative" solutions to the housing problem.

"I think it's possible that council could work hand in glove with a community housing organisation that could possibly be the managers of that [council owned affordable housing] circumstance," Cr McKinnon said.

"Try to be a bit creative about the kinds of things we can do to help the situation."

"The housing crisis we have at the moment is affecting the most vulnerable sector of our community," Cr McKinnon said.

"And that is people living in homeless circumstances, people who need to leave domestic violence circumstance but can't ... and people who are competing at the lowest end of the market."

"Most vulnerable people are missing out on getting anything."

According to Anglicare's rental affordability snapshot, four in 2482 rentals (0.2 per cent) were affordable for a single parent with two children in NSW south, west and the ACT.

Crisis accommodation and transitional housing is also reported to be at capacity across the state, with lengthy waitlists.

Ahead of the federal budget, due to be delivered on Tuesday, the Albanese government announced $1 billion directed towards crisis and transitional accommodation for those fleeing domestic violence.

This includes increasing grants from $175 million to $700 million.

"This isn't about one suburb or one city or one state. It's a challenge facing Australians everywhere and it needs action from every level of government," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Both Cr McKinnon and Cr Parkins expect the proposed report would uncover grants that Wagga City Council could apply for.

"I'm hoping council might uncover some possible federal grants that we could partner up with the federal government to be able to offer some options as well," Cr McKinnon said.

Both Cr Parkins and Cr McKinnon expect the motion to pass before the council.

There is not yet a deadline for when the report must be handed down.