PHOTO: Vacant houses like this one in Tooloon Street are scattered through Coonamble, Gulargambone and Quambone.
NEWLY released housing data provided through an interactive online “dashboard” reveals the stark realities of the housing shortage and hints at some of the contributors – and possible solutions – for our area.
Homelessness NSW has analysed the data, compiled from fifty different sources, to show the local government areas hit hardest by homelessness and rental stress.
According to the analysis, the City of Sydney has the most people experiencing homelessness (3598), followed by Canterbury-Bankstown (2696) and the Inner West Council (2551).
However the LGA with the highest rate of homelessness is just up the road in Walgett Shire with 285 people per 10,000, followed by the City of Sydney (170) and Burwood (160).
Other regional areas in the top 10 included Central Darling Shire (104.3), Griffith (83.4) and Junee (70.1).
In terms of homelessness rates, Coonamble shire doesn’t fare too badly – unless you are one of the seven people recorded as being homeless.
The data tells us these people are all aged between 20 and 54 years, and five of them are Aboriginal.
The dashboard also maps localised statistics on contributing factors such as housing supply, income support payments and domestic violence rates.
Housing data highlights local limits
According to the data, in 2021 Coonamble Shire had a total of 1817 dwellings for a population of 3732.
In 2020 the shire had 58 social housing dwellings making up 3.2% of the total housing stock.
This is lower than the 4.6% of social housing across the state.
No new homes were recorded as being completed in the last financial year (2021/22) and the rental vacancy rate remains at 0% in both April and June 2023.
Affordability still a problem
Our LGA has a median weekly household income of $1231.
Our long term median weekly rent is $268 putting us among the four lowest in the state just above Gilgandra ($266), Bourke ($262) and Hay ($217).
This is a far cry from the median rents in some Sydney suburbs that can exceed $1000 per week but low incomes in our area mean rental stress is still a very real factor.
In 2021, 348 people or 9% of the population were receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
Currently there are 18.6% of renter households in our shire considered to be in rental stress.
This is well below the 35% of NSW renter households in rental stress.
New or re-newed?
Homelessness NSW is calling on the government to set a target of lifting the proportion of social homes to 10 per cent.
“The drivers of homelessness are complex but the solutions are not,” said CEO Trina Jones.
“We can solve these problems by properly funding homelessness services and urgently building more social housing. “
But the long wait for brand new developments has raised questions locally when a speedier solution seems at hand.
Perhaps the most telling statistic in the Coonamble shire data is the proportion of unoccupied dwellings across our communities.
Census data from 2021 reveals 265 unoccupied dwellings – or 14.6% of total housing supply in the district.
This is well above the 9% of homes unoccupied across NSW on the night of the census and justifies questions being asked by local residents, our shire council and state MP Roy Butler about what can be done to bring these dwellings back into the market.