Will Fletcher Street Cottage get funding or be lost in the politics?

Yesterday Federal Labor MP for Richmond Justine Elliot accused Greens candidate for Richmond Mandy Nolan of ‘undermining’ Greens state member for Ballina Tamara Smith’s responsibilities to deliver urgent state government funding for local homelessness services’.

The comment was in response to Ms Nolan’s call for ‘Justine Elliot to ensure Fletcher Street Cottage receives government funding to continue providing vital services to the homeless community’.

Ms Elliot stated that, ‘Fletcher Street Cottage provides an important service for our community and needs financial assistance to keep providing their ongoing services. Federal government funding is delivered directly to State governments so they in turn can provide financial grants to homelessness services such as Fletcher Street Cottage.’

Responding to the comments Ms Smith told The Echo that she has ‘been providing advice and support to the manager of the Fletcher Street program on funding opportunities and I continue to work with homelessness support services across the electorate.’  

‘I’ve asked NSW Labor’s Housing Minister to fully fund the amazing work of Fletcher Street Cottage,’ she said.   

‘Ultimately, Labor is the party in government at state and federal levels. It is the NSW Labor government who has the power to allocate funding to deserving organisations like Fletcher Street Cottage.  

‘Why our region’s critical homelessness services are going without is a question for the Labor government.  

‘Labor have also failed to take meaningful action to regulate short-term holiday letting or make unlimited rent increases illegal, despite managing to spend billions of dollars on tax concessions for property developers.  

‘Our community needs urgent reform to address the housing crisis, and I share the community’s disappointment with Labor’s inaction.’