I’ve been calling for more affordable and social housing throughout my time as an MP. The COVID‑19 emergency exposes our fragile housing system and I again raised this in Parliament. Rental stress has been increasing rapidly; almost no homes in the Sydney electorate are classed as affordable. We have a social housing waiting list of over 60,000 and a prolonged recession will put more people on that list.

The Government must urgently expand social housing stock to stimulate the economy with thousands of new jobs. We must also increase major housing development targets to at least 15 per cent to deliver more social and affordable homes. I commend the excellent ‘Social housing can help the NSW economy recover’ report that spells out the massive community benefits: HERE.