NSW Families and Communities Minister Gareth Ward says street homelessness has more than halved in Newcastle in the past year thanks to a government outreach program.
Mr Ward told the Newcastle Herald on the eve of a visit to the city on Tuesday that his "assertive outreach" program had resulted in a 63 per cent fall in people sleeping on the street in Newcastle, the largest percentage drop in the state.
The number of homeless people sleeping rough in the local government area has dropped from 52 to 19 in the past 12 months, according to the government's latest count during February.
Across the Hunter, the statewide count found the number of homeless people on the streets had dropped from 120 to 65 since February last year.
Other notable falls occurred in Lake Macquarie (33 to 18) and Maitland (12 to 3), though the count rose from 4 to 12 in Port Stephens.
The government figures say the number of people sleeping rough across NSW fell 14 per cent over the year.
Newcastle charities like the Samaritans have called for 300,000 new social and affordable housing dwellings in NSW over the next 15 years to address a systemic shortfall in such accommodation.
The say many people sleep in shelters, cars and at friends' houses rather than out in the open but are still homeless.
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Mr Ward said the reported falls were largely due to the outreach program, which had helped 165 people into secure housing since it started in Newcastle in mid-2019.
"I've heard first-hand about local people who have been supported to secure housing and to get access to the services and support they need to live independently, and to improve their health and general wellbeing," Mr Ward said.
"I've been on the streets of Newcastle with our hard-working outreach teams who are on patrol multiple times each week, engaging with people sleeping rough and providing them with an opportunity to break the homelessness cycle."
He said the team of housing, homelessness and health had completed more than 1000 outreach patrols in Newcastle.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced two years ago a target to halve homelessness by 2025.
An Equity Economics report in October last year forecast homelessness to rise 40 per cent within a year in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie due to COVID-19.
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