Explosion of NSW’s working homeless as housing crisis laid bare

Shock new statistics show a quarter of the state’s homeless population have jobs but can’t afford a home. See the areas affected the most.

More than a quarter of the state’s homeless population have a job but cannot find a place to live, damning new statistics have revealed.

Comprehensive new data from Homelessness NSW shows 28 per cent of people sleeping rough are employed, with large numbers of Sydneysiders going to work in the day with nowhere to go at night.

Even in Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs, the data reveals a trend of a ‘working homeless’.

In Randwick City Council, nearly 900 homeless people were recorded of which over 36 per cent had jobs.

Similarly on the Northern Beaches 445 people were recorded homeless with almost 50 per cent holding employment. Even in the City of Sydney, data shows over 1240 working Aussies had insufficient housing.

People doing it rough fared no better in western Sydney with 1601 homeless people recorded of which almost 30 per cent were employed.

Tents are placed under trees in Enmore Park where many of the people have jobs. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Yet only 5.2 per cent of total dwellings in the suburbs as of 2021 were used for social housing, meaning an estimated 700 new affordable homes need to be built in Blacktown alone.

The Daily Telegraph previously revealed crippling rents and huge inflation has caused some of Sydney’s “working homeless” to set up an encampment of tents and car sleepers in the heart of Sydney’s inner-west.

The lush inner-west suburbs have the third highest number of rough sleepers in the state at 2551 of which more than a quarter hold down jobs.

People seeking shelter after eviction across the state rose by more than 11 per cent in the last six months. Individuals finding themselves homeless due to domestic and family violence also rose by 11.5 per cent within the last six months.

Homelessness services are at their wits end with the number of people seeking help almost at the same level as at the height of the 2021 lockdowns and even higher than in 2020.

NSW Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said the data was heartbreaking and clearly showed the impact of the housing crisis.

“We have people with jobs, long rental histories, and no previous history of homelessness unable to access housing,” she said.

“The face of homelessness is changing. People who have safe and secure jobs but not safe and secure housing, it’s not okay and it needs to change … homelessness is not a personal failing, it is a policy failing.”

NSW Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said the data was heartbreaking. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

Families on NSW north coast are some of the most at risk of homelessness in the state with 47.9 per cent of households living in the Byron Shire feeling rental stress.

In nearby Tweed and Nambucca, families faced similar levels of rental pressure. Additionally 32.3 per cent of the areas homeless had jobs.

Byron Shire mayor Michael Lyon said northern coastal regions were under intense housing pressure due to the area’s high desirability. Mr Lyon said the government’s housing targets were no where near high enough to accommodate working families.

“The planning system is broken, it sets the wrong targets,” he said.

“We’ve met all our housing targets for the last 10 years and it is not nearly enough.

“We need the right targets of affordable housing so working families can afford to live in the area.”