Labor is promising action on the ongoing housing problem in the Hunter as house and rent prices continue to climb at record rates across the region.
Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Jason Clare has made two visits to electorates in the Hunter in the past two weeks to discuss the crisis with local service providers.
After visiting Maitland earlier this month with Paterson MP Meryl Swanson, Mr Clare joined Hunter candidate Dan Repacholi on Monday in Cessnock, where the rental vacancy rate has plunged to 0.2 per cent and house prices have risen by more than 22 per cent in the past year - a larger increase than the national average.
"Rents here in Cessnock are up over eight per cent in the last 12 months," Mr Clare said. "That's about double what they have jumped in Sydney and in other parts of Hunter rents have jumped even more."
Mr Repacholi said he was hearing from people of all incomes suffering housing stress due to forced evictions with few rental houses available in the market.
"Them trying to find another house is near impossible," he said.
Hunter Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service coordinator Nicole Grgas said the service was experiencing "unprecedented demand", with clients living in cars or splitting up their families to stay with different relatives.
"A lot of people are facing homelessness for the first time ever, even people who have perfect tenancy history, have jobs - there's just nothing available," she said.
Ms Grgas said she believed the problem needed a collaborative approach from all levels of government.
Mr Clare spruiked Labor's plan to set up a Housing Australia Future Fund if elected, which involves building 30,000 social and affordable homes over the first five years.
"We desperately need more housing, more affordable housing," he said.
"We've said that the federal government should play a role in building more affordable housing. The Morrison government throws up its hands and says it's not its job but that's wrong.
"For the last 70 years ever since World War II, the federal government has played a role in building more affordable housing."
But when asked if negative gearing contributed to the problem, Mr Clare reiterated his party's stance that it would not get rid of negative gearing if elected.
"We took that to the last two elections and we got beaten," he said. "We've got to learn from the lessons of what happens at elections, we've listened to what the community said... and that's why we're not taking that to this election.
"But the problem still exists, we've got to look at different ways to fix it.
"We've got a national cabinet. One of the things that's happened in the past 12 months that I think is really good is the way national cabinet has been used to deal with crises.
"It's been focused over the last 12 months on the pandemic and justifiably so, but this is a crisis too and I think if the government's serious about wanting to fix it... then housing affordability should be on the agenda."
