Business Sydney calls for a homelessness commissioner to help rough sleepers

Sydney needs a homelessness commissioner to help get rough sleepers into a warm bed before the cost of living crisis pushes more people out onto the streets.

The Domain Car Park should have a level converted into accommodation for the homeless, while under-utilised government buildings should also welcome rough sleepers.

These are just two ideas in a five-point plan from Business Sydney to help get the homeless into a warm bed ­before the cost-of-living crisis pushes more people out on to the streets.

Executive director Paul Nicolaou is calling on all levels of government to focus on the issue, which sees more than 230 rough sleepers in the CBD alone and more than 70,000 people using homelessness services statewide.

Mr Nicolaou’s organisation represents more than 100 of our leading business, community and government organisations.

The five-point plan would create a homelessness commissioner, identify existing state government or City of Sydney under-utilised assets that can be converted into temporary accommodation, offer incentives to landlords to provide affordable accommodation for single parents with children, allocate a floor of the Domain Car Park to temporary accommodation for those in need with mattresses, toilets and security, and bring a large number of community, business and political leaders together.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicoloau is calling for a homelessness commissioner to be appointed and Domain Carpark to be used as temporary accomodation for rough sleepers. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Nobody chooses to be homeless but it could happen to anyone,” Mr Nicolaou said in a letter to Communities Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones this week.

“Domestic violence, mental health problems or unexpected life events like the death of a loved one, sudden job loss or relationship breakdown; all of these could ­expose anyone to a chain of events that ends in home-lessness.

“The rising cost of living including increasing rents and lack of social housing, means that for many Sydneysiders the risk of losing their home is only a pay slip away.”

New Homelessness NSW chief executive Trina Jones backed the homelessness commissioner idea.

“I welcome the support of the business sector to call on the government to lead a ­response to end homelessness,” she said.

The tough conditions the homeless have to endure out on the streets. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

During lockdown the number of rough sleepers in the City of Sydney dropped from 334 in February 2020 to 225 this year.

This was mainly due to a concerted effort to get people off the streets and avoid Covid transmission.

“Many people who were off the streets substantially through Covid have kind of come back to the street ­because there’s no long-term outcome and they find it difficult to get the support services they need,” Ms Jones said.

She also took aim at the state government. “The research is showing us that we need about 15,000 houses per year to meet the current and future demand that’s across the state,” she said.

Ms Maclaren-Jones said: “My priority is to build on what we are already doing to help those sleeping rough into stable accommodation and to provide wraparound services to those at-risk of homelessness or who are ­experiencing homelessness to give them the support they need to break the cycle of disadvantage”. She added $2.8 billion had been allocated to this area in the budget.

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