Over the past year, the NSW Parliament’s Select Committee on Essential Worker Housing has set out to tackle a critical question: How can we ensure essential workers like nurses, teachers, police officers and paramedics are able to afford a home near the communities they serve?
Chaired by Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich MP, the Committee began its inquiry in June 2024. Over 12 months, it received 113 submissions, heard from 99 stakeholders and held five public hearings in Seaforth, Nowra, Blacktown, and Parliament House.
As part of the inquiry, HOPE Housing, together with Police Bank and a police officer supported by HOPE, were proud to share our experience with the Committee. We spoke about our shared equity model, an approach that helps essential workers buy a home close to work without government subsidies or causing market distortion.
As the police officer shared with the Committee:
“I felt trapped. I wanted to buy a home and give my kids stability, but I couldn’t afford to buy near their schools or my work. I looked at moving hours away, but the commute would’ve been too hard on my family. I couldn’t see a way forward until I found HOPE Housing.”
“Thanks to HOPE, my fiancée and I bought a home in our community. Our mortgage is less than we were paying in rent. HOPE gave us the security we needed, and I wish more of my colleagues could have the same chance.”
The Committee delivered its final report on 13 June 2025, confirming what we at HOPE Housing see every day: Skyrocketing housing costs are forcing essential workers to choose between paying unsustainable rent, moving far from work, or rethinking their careers entirely, fuelling critical workforce shortages.
“We heard that many essential workers are priced out of the communities they serve, living in unstable accommodation or far away from their workplaces,” said Committee Chair Alex Greenwich MP. “Our report calls for a coordinated effort to deliver real housing solutions for those who deliver essential services.”
The Committee’s final report calls for a statewide approach, led by Homes NSW, and highlights the role that innovative solutions like shared equity can play in solving the crisis.
“Essential workers don’t need subsidies, they need a fair partner,” said HOPE Housing CEO Tim Buskens. “Shared equity works, and it can also work at scale. We’re ready to deploy $300 million in funding over the next year to help hundreds more essential workers buy a home and stay close to the communities they serve.”
Since launching in late 2022, HOPE Housing has helped 35 essential workers achieve homeownership, but thousands more are waiting for the opportunity.
The Inquiry shone a light on the scale of the challenge and on the practical solutions already making a difference. Now it’s time for action.
If you would like to read the report, click here. Or if you would like to see the 7News story on the report release, featuring HOPE, click here.
