A tough question: Brad Hazzard, Minister for Social Housing, talks with homeless man "Tony" in Martin Place. Credit:Dallas Kilponen First encounter is with "Tony", 61, from the Southern Highlands (he asked us to change his name). He was on the priority housing list but has been taken off it in the last few months. He's on the steps of the Reserve Bank next to the Lindt Cafe and says he has been on the streets for about 12 months. He's a joiner but working as a "houseman" at a hotel chain. "The housing commission won't help me because if I gross more than $570 a week they take me off the registry," he says. "I can't get Centrelink payments because if I earn more than $220 a week [this week he earned $300] they can't help me. "We have a person at work from the Philippines who has been in the country for four months. He earns well over $700 a week. His wife gets $1000 from Centrelink benefits and he has just been found a housing commission out at Mount Druitt or Harris Park. He gets a brand new washing machine from them.

Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard speaks with David, who is homeless and spending his nights in Martin Place while he awaits housing. Credit:Dallas Kilponen "How can he get all that and yet as I earn a certain amount I can't get it and I have lived in this country for 50 years. I pay taxes. I have done everything right. Why have we got two rules?" Mr Hazzard is sitting on the steps listening. "I think state governments around the country are given the task of trying to house people when they come in as refugees when the federal government makes that decision," he says. "One of the issues for me is to try and get some further assistance from the federal government to make sure that when they make a decision and somebody is going to come in and get further up the queue that we are still getting the money to help people further down the queue. "The system at the moment tends to prioritise people who come in, for example, if they have two or three kids or there's some other issue like domestic violence that puts them in a high priority, but that does make the pressure further down the line very difficult.

"Tony's raised a really interesting issue for me as minister. If people are being rejected from being on the public housing list because they have sporadic work and don't fit in the boxes then that's an issue the department needs to look at. "Tony's been on the list and then removed. That's the big challenge here." Mr Hazzard gets Tony's phone number to see if he can help further. On the other side of Martin Place he introduces himself to a group of homeless people. "Hi, I'm Brad." Andrew, long-time homeless (but he has a bed in Redfern at the moment) says he wants "no more lies in public". Politicians should be fitted with a "truth plug" and if politicians tell a lie they would be automatically jailed.

Mark thinks the prime minister is eating caviar on a boat while he gets a vegemite sandwich from a food van. He wants politicians to experience living on the street first hand. Another man, just out of Long Bay on drug related charges, says the 28-day limit for staying in a hostel is too short. Brad gets his phone number as well. The minister explains the challenges of the role. "The premier has asked me to do everything I can to address the number of people who are homeless but also people who are looking for housing, and it's a huge challenge." Of the controversial sell-off of property in Millers Point, he added: "We don't have an Aladdin's Cave of money, we have to find innovative ways of using the available funds to attack a long-standing issue.

"Selling off houses which in some cases are worth more than $4 million and being able to recycle that money into five or six houses is a positive outcome but the negative part is that people who have lived in Millers Point would like to continue to live there. It's an issue I am looking at to see if there is some balance we can strike." Asked if it was a pipedream to think Sydney could ever get all the homeless off the streets, he added: "There will always be some people who don't like the services or can't actually access the services for a variety of reasons so it probably is a pipedream to believe we will have everybody off the streets. But it's a damn good ambition." Homeless in winter: It's a tough life Homelessness NSW says living on the streets is difficult at any time of year but is particularly difficult during the colder months. Rough sleepers often have physical health issues and research shows that their life expectancy is 20 years below the average life expectancy and winter can exacerbate physical health issues.

Chief Executive Katherine McKernan said health issues may not be managed as well as they would usually due to the imminent closure of the Haymarket Clinic which provides a range of health and support services to rough sleepers in the inner city. "The recent City of Sydney Street Count found that there were 365 people sleeping rough and at the same time the crisis accommodation in the inner city (over 450 beds) was 92 per cent full – there is simply nowhere for people to go. "What is needed is a focus on affordable housing – the private rental market is simply not accessible for disadvantaged people and there are more than 60,000 people on the social housing waiting list. "International research and indeed Sydney based initiatives such as Common Ground and Platform 70 show that the provision of permanent housing with support ends homelessness. Research also shows that in NSW 85 per cent of homeless people who were housed with support from services were able to maintain their tenancies."