DESCRIBING the housing crisis facing Australia as a “national disgrace” and “national emergency”, Chippendale’s Lee Howe is standing as an independent for the Upper House in Saturday’s NSW State Election.

Ms Howe said it is a key responsibility of government to ensure access to safe and affordable housing is available to all, whether they are living in public housing, renting or are purchasing their own home.

“I want to change the mindset when it comes to housing, and I will start by fighting to restore the social housing safety net and strengthening protections for renters,” Howe said.

“People who have secure, appropriate and affordable housing are happier people.

“They have better health outcomes, better educational outcomes and brighter futures,” she said.

New Zealand-born Howe has spent the past 40 years in Sydney, witnessing first hand the impacts of an eleven percent decrease in NSW social housing stock in the past decade.

“Years of neglect by successive governments has seen a significant decrease in the number of social housing homes
available, while the waiting list for these homes continues to climb,” Howe said.

Howe is calling for a raft of changes to the way social housing is delivered in NSW, including restoring the social housing net to five percent of total housing stock by 2027, and setting ambitious targets to increase the total amount of social housing stock to ten percent by 2040 and fifteen percent by 2050.

Howe also wishes to see a commitment to building a minimum of 5,000 additional social housing homes each year until the state reaches a long-term target of fifteen percent of total housing stock.

Howe believes fifteen percent of all new developments and sub-divisions of fifteen or more dwellings should be reserved for social and affordable housing (including for people over 55), and homes for First Nations people.

Renter and tenant rights are also at the centre of Howe’s platform, with a policy to clearly rewrite the Tenancy Act with new clauses to protect tenants and provide a balanced, equitable and fair system for all.

“Renters are at the mercy of private landlords and have little protection from excessive rent rises and ‘no grounds’ evictions,” she said.

Amongst her rental policies, Howe would like government to cap rental increases to ten percent, to be applied only at the renewal of an existing rental agreement.

For a full list of Lee Howe’s policies, visit www.vote1homesfirst.com.au/policies.