Labor candidate for the Lismore electorate Janelle Saffin promises to find funding for more crisis accommodation should she win the state poll on March 23.
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Ms Saffin said she intends to move strongly on housing and homelessness for this region.
“I shall go hard on this and want locals to know what I am advocating,” she said.
“There have been few new affordable housing planning initiatives since 2011 – the same time the present NSW Liberal-National Government came to power.
“These are frontline services that the Nationals have chosen not to deliver to our region over the past eight years.
“Housing local people is clearly not their priority. I can tell you that it is my priority and Labor’s priority.
“In my office this week we helped find accommodation for a woman in crisis. Through Link2Home secured her three nights in a motel.”
“When the three nights are up, what then?
“Why not just build housing stock? It is known to pay for itself.”
Ms Saffin plans to develop a minimum of 100 additional social housing properties per year across the Northern Rivers for 10 years, with additional ones earmarked for Tenterfield.
She also intends to ensure that the Social and Affordable Housing Fund has a regional allocation, to increase transitional accommodation for people of specialist homeless services by 150 properties, and to allocate additional direct homelessness support funding.
“These key recommendations form the basis of my community advocacy and are what I and others have advocated to Tania Mihaluk MP, Shadow Minister for Housing, and our leadership,” Ms Saffin said.