NSW’s housing crisis is the most pressing public policy challenge facing the state. Housing affordability in NSW, and Sydney in particular, has been getting worse for decades. But in recent years, surges in rental and house prices, coupled with a sustained cost-of-living crisis, has brought many families to breaking point, driven up homelessness, and placed inordinate strain on NSW’s public and community housing sector.

All forecasts show that the strain on NSW’s social housing system is growing and wait lists are expanding. Homelessness is increasing and is forecast to increase further. Meanwhile, the existing social housing system is laden with issues, often related to the liveability of existing public and community housing stock, which isn’t always receiving adequate maintenance.

This perfect storm demands of government a generational investment in the safety net that is the state’s social housing system. The McKell Institute and the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW are calling on the NSW Government to commit to a social housing package in the 2024/25 NSW Budget that reflects the extraordinary scale of the social housing challenge in the state.

This report details that challenge and explains why such ambition is needed. It examines the status quo of the state’s social housing system, focusing on the poor maintenance record in public housing in particular.