The lack of affordable accommodation in Wagga has seen some people sleep in the vacant Murrumbidgee Mill building. Photo: Leigh Swansborough.
Wagga Wagga ran out of hotel rooms earlier this week as the NSW Government continues to put homeless people into temporary accommodation – while also quietly offering some homeless clients large payments to help them transition into permanent housing or move interstate.
Several housing advocates have told Region that Homes NSW has introduced a new product called “brokerage”, whereby eligible homeless applicants can receive up to $10,000 in assistance to help them move to another city, repair a vehicle or transition into housing.
Advocates who have attended Homes NSW offices to support clients have been told about the product, but it is not advertised and there is no public information about it on any website.
“What we understand is that if a client comes to Homes NSW and they need help getting to where they have promised housing – then Homes NSW will give them money to facilitate this need to get them there,” Wagga Ratepayers president Chris Roche said.
“That might be buying a car, fixing a caravan or paying for an airfare, and the payment can be as much as $10,000.
“But the problem is people don’t know about it, so they don’t ask about it.”
Region asked Homes NSW to explain the scheme and why it was not publicly advertised.
“Homes NSW and our Specialist Homelessness Services can provide brokerage assistance to eligible clients as part of an individual support plan,” a spokesperson said.
“Brokerage provides financial assistance to help people who are homeless in temporary accommodation to exit into alternative accommodation. It is tailored to a person’s circumstances and is not a standard payment or grant available through public application.”
At the same time, the department has refused to reveal how much it is spending on hotel and motel rooms in Wagga, or even how many homeless people it has placed in them.
The revelations come as Wagga’s hotel supply has been stretched to breaking point.
On Tuesday (August 25) there were effectively no hotel or motel rooms available in Wagga, leaving the NSW Government and Wagga City Council with nowhere obvious to put people being moved on from the Wilks Park homeless camp.
Region could only find one room available online, at a cost of $999 at the International Hotel.
Council rangers did not attend the park that day.
Region has previously reported that people living in tents, caravans and makeshift camps at Wilks Park have been threatened with $1000 fines if they refuse to leave.
Housing Minister Rose Jackson told a parliamentary hearing earlier this month that homeless people were being moved into hotels because there was no social housing available and nowhere else to put them.
Minister Rose Jackson was questioned on the Wagga housing crisis at a parliamentary hearing earlier this month. Photo: Supplied.
Mr Roche said there was a danger the strategy could hurt Wagga’s tourism industry, given the city already had a limited supply of accommodation.
“It’s concerning when there are nights where every single hotel is booked out. Where will people who visit Wagga stay?” he said.
However, the department insists its use of hotels is not significantly contributing to Wagga’s accommodation shortage.
It told Region it currently used six accredited hotel and motel providers in Wagga for temporary accommodation.
It said this represented a small proportion of the more than 200 accommodation providers operating across the city and that there was no evidence to suggest its use of emergency accommodation for the homeless was having a significant impact on broader accommodation availability.
But the department would not answer the more important questions about the scale and cost of the program.
Region asked how many homeless people Link2Home had placed in Wagga hotels and motels since 1 June.
Homes NSW did not provide a figure.
Region also asked for the average nightly cost to taxpayers and the highest rate paid since June.
Again, no figure was provided.
Homes NSW said it did not disclose the cost of individual accommodation arrangements because prices varied between providers and might be subject to commercial-in-confidence arrangements.
Region understands some private motel operators have been charging up to $500 a night for each homeless client.
Mr Roche said this was a poor use of taxpayers’ money, arguing hotels were unsuitable for people experiencing homelessness and that a serviced temporary camp with wraparound support would be cheaper and more effective.
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Region Riverina.
