The Gilgandra Shire Council has delivered some stirring words about the housing shortage. 

The council wants the advocacy group Local Government NSW to do more to push the NSW Government to build more social housing and to address the Government's "disinterest and underfunding towards repairing vacant public houses in disrepair." 

It comes as pressure continues on the state government's housing policy, as the ALP campaigned heavily on housing affordability at the March election. 

Housing advocates have described the Minns government's $224 million Essential Housing package in the September budget as "modest" and "not enough."  

Image: Catholic Social Services 

The fund will be split $70 million in direct investment in new social housing units as well as funding for existing social housing and homelessness programs. 

Currently, there are over 50,000 people on the social housing waiting list, and Shelter NSW says NSW has a shortage of 221,500 social and affordable houses.

They say the lack of investment in social housing is driving up rent prices - and that, similarly, the Federal Government's Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which will build a further 30,000 social and affordable dwellings, is simply not enough.  

Earlier this month, the NSW Labor government announced it would take back control of the maintenance of its 95,000 social housing properties as part of its broader push to reverse the outsourcing of services to the private sector. 

In its pre-budget submission to the NSW Government, the Local Government called for the state government to invest $2.6 billion annually over the next 10 years to build 5,000 additional units of public and social housing each year to address what is called homelessness and housing affordability crisis right across NSW. 

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Image: City Hub Sydney 

Now, the Gilgandra Shire Council has called for "Minimum targets of 5-10% public, social and affordable housing across NSW" and "25 per cent for government owned land".  

They also proposed that the Government "Establish a ministry solely dedicated to addressing homelessness and the housing crisis." 

Research from Shelter NSW suggests the Government receives $9.5 billion in taxes from the private housing market each year. 

In its latest Gilgandra Shire Council meeting, council passed other motions calling on the state government to do more across other policy areas. 

The first was that "That Local Government NSW pursue designated funding from the NSW Government for the urgent replacement of first generation public swimming pools reaching end of life in Regional NSW" and the second that the Local Government NSW lobby "the NSW Government to produce detailed planning guidelines to mitigate the impacts the development of renewable energy."