Country Women's Association says there are too many empty houses

"We're urgently requesting them to repair and make habitable government-owned housing, presently vacant," CWA president Joy Beames said.

"And make it available for essential service providers such as medical and educational workers."

Ms Beames said there are too many uninhabitable empty houses that need to be "fixed up" so people can live in them and it's not just an issue that is affecting any one particular region.

"I've been attending various meetings around the state over the last few months and this is an issue that comes up a lot of times with various people," Ms Beames said.

"And it's about the number of vacant government houses that are just sitting there that maybe need minor or major repairs.

"There's a lot of people looking for housing, particularly nurses. They've had to bring in agency nurses, but they've got nowhere for them to live, and yet they've got these houses available."

About 39 representatives from the CWA, made up of about 8000 members across 30 groups in NSW, recently held their state executive meeting in Sydney.

Ms Beames said the CWA representatives discussed many of the issues and formulated motions that will go on to their state conference agenda for 2024.

It comes as the nation is gripped by a housing crisis, with rentals at record lows and yet prices for weekly rents soaring.

Across Australia, about 122,494 people are homeless on any given night, according to the latest Australian of Bureau Statistics.

READ ALSO:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: