Homelessness has been an ongoing issue not just in Lismore and the Northern Rivers, but around the country as the housing crisis continues to affect Australians.

This week, the NSW Government made finding emergency housing or applying for social or key worker housing easier with a major digital project bringing all the information people need into one place under the Homes NSW banner on the nsw.gov.au website.

Homes NSW delivers quality homes and services that change lives, end homelessness and support more than 260,000 people in social housing across the state.

The new easy-to-use tools include a housing office finder and allocation zone locator to determine where people can apply for social housing, as well as a social housing building projects finder, to locate where Homes NSW is delivering new social and affordable housing across NSW.

Users can expect a smoother experience with simplified content and better accessibility, such as an embedded translation tool that can instantly translate pages into more than 70 different languages, supporting a diverse range of social housing tenants, of which 23 per cent were born overseas.

It also makes the process of paying rent, lodging maintenance requests or providing feedback more straightforward.

To access the new Homes NSW website visit: www.nsw.gov.au/homes-nsw

The digital transformation helps deliver on the NSW Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy – an all-of-government approach to help enhance the community’s digital ability, affordability, accessibility, connectivity, and trust and safety.

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Jihad Dib said, “People accessing this information are often going through some of the most difficult circumstances of their lives.

“I am proud that we are removing some of the stress for those doing it tough by making it easier to get the information they need through simple to access and easy to read web pages all in one place.

“Homes NSW’s move to nsw.gov.au is part of our government’s commitment to deliver accessible, inclusive, secure and integrated digital services for everyone in NSW, regardless of age, ability, background or circumstance.”

Housing and Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said, “When we brought housing and homelessness services together under Homes NSW, we committed to making the system more efficient and accessible – this digital transformation is proof of that.

“Rather than trawling through multiple different websites, you can now head to the Homes NSW website for everything from emergency housing and maintenance information to design guides for our project partners.”