The agency was established pursuant to the Housing Act 2001 (NSW).
Purpose and function
Housing NSW provides a range of services including public and community housing, housing for people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, support services for people with special needs linked to government and non-government agencies, private rental assistance and subsidies, advice and assistance for home-buyers, the development of affordable housing, community regeneration, and development and regulation of social housing policies.[4]
Initially the role of the Housing Commission was to investigate housing affordability and standards, co-ordinate with associated agencies, publish its findings and general information about housing, take steps to improve housing standards and recommend further legislation.[5]
The commission was responsible for the provision of post-war housing in the 1940s and 1950s, often using cheap fibro materials due to shortages of other materials such as bricks. It was also responsible for slum clearance in the 1960s and the replacement of terraced housing in the Waterloo area with high rise public housing towers. In the 1970s, the now-discredited American Radburn style of public housing was used, especially in the south western suburbs of Sydney. Phyllis Le Cappelaine Burke served on the commission for twenty years, from 1945 to 1965, and advocated for policies to improve the lives of women in public housing.[6]
Prior to the establishment of the Housing Commission, a Housing Board was established in April 1912 under the authority of the NSW Colonial Secretary.[3]
John Northcott Place, two buildings, surrounded by walk-up complex (3 rectangular blocks conjoined with Y-shaped tower, 1 I-shaped surrounded by walk-ups)
^Allport, Carolyn, "Burke, Phyllis Le Cappelaine (1900–1969)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 4 July 2021
