Greens candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker is calling on Wollongong City Council to provide greater support to services on the frontline of the worsening housing and cost of living crises.

Kit said recent figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have captured the extent of the crisis in our city. "Wollongong City experienced not only one of the sharpest increase in people accessing homelessness services in NSW, but is second to only Sydney City for people experiencing homelessness,” Kit said.

“Food banks and homeless services are being stretched to their limits as more and more working families from across Wollongong rely on these services for food and shelter. It’s unacceptable given the current climate that local frontline services receive very little assistance from our city council.

“It’s disappointing that in the midst of a housing and cost of living crisis, frontline services are having to wait up several months or more for their development applications to be approved. Applications that are crucial to their ability to meet the growing demand for services. I am urging the council to treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves and prioritise DA’s for those services on the frontline of this crisis.”

Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 Jess Whittaker said a crisis of this scale requires coordinated efforts between state, local governments and organizations on the front line delivering services. 

“It’s disappointing a simple thing like prioritizing Development Applications to expand these services hasn’t been identified as something that could help these organizations, as more people rapidly feel the pain of simultaneous housing and cost of living crises.

“We want all businesses and organisations to have positive interactions when they need approvals and assistance from Council. At the moment, we are hearing the opposite, which is particularly concerning when it's from organisations who are providing such an important service to people experiencing housing and food insecurity.”