Byron Shire 2025 Street Count numbers released - more housing needed
Published on 09 May 2025
According to the State Government’s 2025 Street Count, Byron Shire has recorded 291 people sleeping rough, the second highest number in the State after the City of Sydney.
This is a 16 percent reduction on last year’s rough sleeping count in the shire but Byron Shire Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, said the results of the 2025 count for the Byron Shire should not be compared to previous years because the approach changed this year.
“The count occurred during half a day this year, compared with two days in 2024,” the Mayor said.
“With rough sleeping in the regions looking extremely different to urban areas, it’s very difficult to accurately capture how many people may be sleeping in bushland, dune locations, cars, and vans,” she said.
“Given this, I am not confident that the figure of 291 people sleeping rough is correct and our actual numbers are likely to be much higher.
“I know we are making some inroads into addressing rough sleeping, but it is slow and complex work that requires actual housing solutions,” the Mayor said.
“We are doing great work locally. Council is the backbone lead for the Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration project which includes the dedicated involvement of many partners who are working tirelessly with the resources at hand.
“We have also seen the benefits of the Assertive Outreach Byron Program which was established in early 2024.
“And while we applaud ongoing investment in housing in other key locations with high Street Count numbers, Byron Shire still has less than 5 percent of the social housing that exists in City of Sydney, despite similar numbers of people needing homes.
“Sometimes it feels like Byron Shire is in the ‘too hard basket’ and we are left behind on State Government social housing initiatives.
“The reality for us is that we have a dire lack of temporary, social and affordable housing pathways for local people sleeping rough and without this we can’t solve the homelessness situation.
“Even when housing is offered, local people would need to move away from their schools, friends and other supports because there is little to no temporary, social, and affordable housing available in Byron Shire.
“This puts people in an unspeakable position where they must choose shelter over belonging in their community and this does not happen in local areas surrounding us … and our continual question for the State Government is why?” Mayor Ndiaye said.