Member for Murray Helen Dalton will be hosting a forum of housing providers, local council, community, religious and business groups to address the increasingly dire housing crisis across regional NSW.
The forum will feature representatives from Griffith City Council, the Salvation Army, the St Vincent de Paul Society, Linking Communities, Soroptimists Griffith and Argyle Housing, along many others who will be discussing potential solutions to the lack of housing.
“The housing crisis is the biggest challenge we face,” Mrs Dalton said.
“There are just no vacant rentals, and crisis accommodation is full to the brim.”
“We’ll see how it goes – this is not going to be another talkfest, we do want some solutions. We’ll hopefully form a committee of interested parties to drive some of those solutions,” she explained.
The forum will start at 10am, kicking off with introductions and a keynote address from Brian Murnane, the CEO of St Vinnie’s Amelie Housing.
Mr Murnane will be speaking to Amelie Housing’s partnership with the NSW Government’s Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF) to build housing in southwest Sydney.
“We will see if we can apply what he did to Griffith,” Mrs Dalton added.
“I think if you can get an inspiring keynote speaker, that can really provide some impetus for people here to say it can be done.”
The forum will also feature a discussion on the usage of disused government buildings as housing.
“Why waste perfectly good buildings when people have nowhere to live? We need a campaign to preserve, maintain and re-purpose buildings no longer used by government.”
“We’re a very vibrant, wealthy area. Raising awareness is one part, and then it’s galvanising support. Time has come to this point where everyone needs this problem solved.”
The forum will be held at Griffith Leagues Club on February 9, 2022.