Our community is facing a critical shortage in housing, with skyrocketing property prices and rising rents pushing many into financial stress or homelessness. The demand for social and affordable housing far exceeds supply, and the issue continues to be one that people in my community regularly raise with me. Our inner west community prides itself on being diverse, inclusive and welcoming. But too many, from young families to essential workers and older people, are being priced out of our suburbs and communities. Everyone deserves an affordable and safe place to live. We need governments that are willing to act to deliver housing, or else we will lose the characteristics that represent our diverse and unified community.

The Minns Labor Government is focused on delivering the housing that essential workers need close to their jobs. We are doing exactly that on the former WestConnex dive site at Camperdown, where we will build at least 200 build-to-rent units, as well as an additional 300 units with a mix of private ownership and affordable rental housing, along with retail and leisure spaces, and new pedestrian links. That is exactly the type of housing that is so desperately needed across Sydney: high quality, well-located affordable homes so that essential workers like nurses, teachers and firefighters, who we all rely on, can enjoy the security of their own home near where they work.

The Minns Labor Government also understands how important quality affordable and social housing is for our communities. I recently had the pleasure of attending the opening of a St George community housing development on Addison Road in Marrickville along with the Prime Minister, the Minister for Housing and the mayor of the inner west. The quality, well-designed development includes 61 new homes, 49 social housing units and 12 affordable homes that our community absolutely needs. At the opening we met Lucie, who had just moved into a three-bedroom unit. Lucie is a single mother with two teenage kids who has spent years on the housing waiting list. Lucie had been forced to move seven times in 10 years due to rising rents, evictions and property sales.

Lucie works full-time and has multiple side jobs but was left unable to afford rent increases of over $250 a week. Lucie and her family now have somewhere they can call home. She said, "This place has been life changing. My kids have their own rooms, and we don't live in fear of being forced out." Lucie can now enjoy stability, security and the foundation to build a better future for herself and her children. I also recently visited the new Nightingale Marrickville precinct, which is setting a new standard for sustainable, community-focused housing. That precinct has 54 apartments on Illawarra Road in Marrickville, which are space-efficient, small‑footprint homes that are rented at below-market rates.

Nightingale was made possible by the work of Fresh Hope Communities, the welfare arm and public benevolent institution entity of Churches of Christ in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, showing us all that there is a role for us to come together across government, not-for-profits and community and church organisations in addressing the housing crisis. We all know that insecure housing can significantly affect people's mental health, and that those who struggle with mental health challenges often find it difficult to sustain housing. Without a stable home, accessing health care and support networks becomes harder, worsening mental health struggles.

The team behind the Habilis Project in Summer Hill is addressing this very challenge, led by Dr Olav Nielssen, who is an inspirational, dedicated psychiatrist. He kindly showed me through the project. It is a purpose‑built complex of individual units that provides both physical security and access to support services. It demonstrates what can be achieved when governments and private organisations work together to tackle homelessness for those who experience mental illness or challenges with illicit drug use by taking community‑driven, housing-first approach. This is exactly the kind of initiative that should be scaled up across the State. Our Government is also addressing challenges that renters face each and every day. We have strengthened renters' rights through ending no-grounds evictions, limiting rent increases and making it easier for renters to keep pets. Overall, these changes will deliver a more vibrant and accessible Sydney and New South Wales so that many generations can call this place home.