Years-long waiting lists, drug abuse create minefield for homeless Armidale Women's Homelessness Support Service tells inquiry

That's according to homeless service Armidale Women's Homelessness Support Service, which told a recent parliamentary inquiry in a submission that there are 246 people on the local public housing waiting list.

Over 13 of them are considered "priority".

All told the average person waits four years for social housing in Armidale, a city with just 15 transitional housing properties.

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NSW Parliament's Committee on Community Services is holding an inquiry into options to address the state's social housing shortage.

The Narrabri, Gwydir and Upper Hunter shire councils, along with the Armidale women's service, and Homes North, made submissions calling for a range of policy changes including increased funding for housing service providers.

Manager Carolyn Burgess said the shelter was the second-oldest in NSW, founded in 1977.

Nearly 50 years later, things have scarcely improved for many women.

"Getting that exit housing is still extremely challenging for a lot of women," she said.

In a submission written by Dr Helena Menih and Dr Elaine Barclay, the women's support service told the inquiry the situation was so dire that the social housing shortage is keeping some women needlessly behind bars.

"Temporary accommodation is a specific need for local Aboriginal people exiting prison as the inability to find them a stable place to stay, prevents their ability to provide an address for their court documents and ultimately their release," the submission said.

In a city which regularly experiences sub-zero winter nights, scores of people are living in cars, they said.

Even when housing is found, the housing can often be inappropriate.

The service shared one story of a woman recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, who escaped domestic and family violence.

She is "currently" housed in a street with two active drug dealers, and a drug-addicted neighbour who abuses her "daily".

Her children are afraid to go outside and she is constantly verbally abused when she does so.

But if she had refused the home. she would have gone straight to the bottom of the housing waiting list, the submission said.

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Gwydir Shire Council told the inquiry it is investigating building new short-term accommodation options for residents who are forced to vacate their properties temporarily, for instance after a bushfire.

Narrabri Shire Council said that one community housing dwelling had been left uninhabitable by a previous resident and their 40 cats, many of them suffering from Feline Respiratory Disease (cat flu).

Clean up of what the council described as "significant feacal contamination of the premises" has been held up by an argument about who is responsible for paying for it, the council said.

The state government should establish a Social Housing Advisory Committee administered by the Department of Communities and Justice at a local level, with representatives from police, health, the RSPCA, councils and more, the council said.

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