This week, I announced that my Government is freezing the sale of all social and public housing to preserve the already limited housing stock.

In a housing affordability crisis, the previous NSW Government sold off $3.5 billion worth of public housing. There is no justification for privatising and selling off public housing – especially amid a worsening housing crisis and over 50,000 applicants on the public housing waiting list.

This ends now.

I am acting immediately and pausing any further sales of Government owned public and social housing in NSW.

It is so important to me that we ensure the mass sales of public housing never happens again and our social housing system is properly funded and prioritised in NSW.

As Premier, I have initiated a state-wide audit of Government held landholdings to identify any surplus land which can be repurposed for additional housing. The Government should do its fair share to identify and allocate new land it owns for housing.

Addressing the housing crisis will not be easy, but we have to start somewhere.

I have already introduced legislation to change the rental laws, including portable bonds for tenants and banning secret rent bidding to provide cost of living relief and better protection for renters.

These are the first steps to addressing the housing crisis and I want to send a message to the people of Kogarah that as your State Member of parliament I am committed to doing everything possible to ensure you can afford your own home.

Yours sincerely,

The Hon. Chris Minns MP
Premier of New South Wales
Member for Kogarah