The goal: build social and affordable housing developments which are seriously needed in the region.

Lack of social and affordable housing has long been identified as an issue - to the point where Shoalhaven City Council developed its own strategy to tackle it - but Cr Findley said local government has limited ability to fix this problem alone, and Shoalhaven is still waiting for state and federal leaders to step up.

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"Council is trying to do it, but council is quite limited, and this really is a state and federal issue - in that the federal government doesn't have a significant housing for all policy, [and] leaves it up to the states," Cr Findley said.

"Then the states are feeling starved of funding coming out of the federal government, so then they don't give us as local government the funding to be able to deliver on the projects."

The Shoalhaven Affordable Housing Strategy, adopted by council in late 2017, mapped out ways to deliver affordable housing in the region.

Some actions in the plan were hands-on, like building affordable homes on council-owned blocks at Bomaderry.

Other actions in the Strategy were more big-picture, like amending local zoning to make space for homes, advocating to the NSW Government to include the Shoalhaven in existing state plans for affordable housing, and planning incentives - things which are in the purview of local government.

The biggest picture of all: completed affordable housing developments, built in partnership with community housing providers on sites owned by public authorities.

In the Strategy, council set out to complete three such developments within a 10 year timeframe.

One redevelopment is currently in the works: Council has partnered with Southern Cross Housing (a community housing provider) to build homes on Coomea St, Bomaderry.

Southern Cross Housing filed an application to demolish existing structures on the sites in mid-2021, which was approved. Cr Findley said she expected a development application for the new homes was 'not too far away from being approved'.

Lobbying state government departments to take action on social and affordable housing in the Shoalhaven has been a large part of the job for Cr Findley.

She said one of council's proposals is for the state government to investigate the large-scale renewal of older homes, similar to a current project in Coffs Harbour known as Argyll Estate. On paper, it would start with rezoning and move on to redeveloping aging social homes.

"Shoalhaven has been taking a briefing paper to Land and Housing, to state agencies, for five years now," Cr Findley said.

"[We are] asking them to look at our social housing that we have in the Shoalhaven and doing a refreshment policy like they're doing for Argyll development.

"Every time we go to them, they say 'certainly, that's a great idea', but we never seem to get any funding or commitment to take the social housing redevelopment forward.

"There's a tremendous amount of opportunity sitting in the land and housing portfolio here in the Shoalhaven, that we could get a significant uplift in housing over a controlled period of time."

In its own Local Area Analysis of the Shoalhaven from November 2021, the NSW Land and Housing Corporation identified that most of its current portfolio in the Shoalhaven isn't suitable for the residents in need of social housing. It owns nearly 1700 properties in the region, and about 1390 of those are managed by community housing providers.

According to the analysis, 72 per cent of NSW LAHC's current housing stock is three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes. But the biggest demand in the Shoalhaven is for smaller homes: studio apartments, through to two-bedroom homes. Around 84% of the priority waitlist is for dwellings with up to two bedrooms.

In the analysis, New South Wales Land and Housing said it will prioritise building one and two bedroom homes. It specifically mentioned seniors living and accessible dwellings as a priority for the Shoalhaven.

Most recently a block of six studio apartments was built at Journal St in Nowra. The apartments replaced an aging cottage, with the redevelopment costing around $1.52 million.

In a statement to Australian Community Media, a Department of Planning and Environment spokesperson said the state government was working with local government on the South Coast to identify renewal options.

"Since March 2020, the State Government has committed $866.4 million to build new social housing in metropolitan and regional NSW, as well as deliver capital upgrades and enhanced cleaning to the existing portfolio of LAHC properties," the statement read.

"Last year, we delivered six new dwellings in Nowra as part of a $1.52 million development, while work is expected to start later this year on two projects in Moruya, providing 31 dwellings.

"We have also started discussions with Shoalhaven Council and scheduled upcoming talks with Eurobodalla Shire Council, as part of our commitment to continually seek further opportunities to renew our portfolio and deliver more and better social housing, closer to jobs, shops, transport and other services."

In the view of Cr Findley, there is potential for either Shoalhaven City Council or local community housing providers to take the reins on developing social and affordable housing.

The catch? They would need funding from higher up.

"Shoalhaven City Council is well positioned to be able to put together land packages," Cr Findley said.

"In order to do that though, Shoalhaven Council needs to buy residential blocks, pull them together, and make sure they've got the right residential zoning.

"To pay for that, it would be really great if the state government could fund that for councils, or otherwise give more funding to our community housing providers, so that they can build on their existing portfolios - which the government already own."

Representing the Shoalhaven, Cr Findley addressed the issue at a recent local government conference, where Minister for Planning and Homes Anthony Roberts was in attendance.

Frustrations over housing challenges and funding were a universal experience among local governments statewide. Cr Findley said she and many others felt stuck in a loop, which was hampering any action.

"We all feel like hamsters on a wheel, going around in circles, trying to get the state government to actually do anything with us," she said.

"They continually lecture local governments about working together. We're the ones taking them solutions and they're just not listening.

"I gave my address as Minister Roberts was sitting right next to me. I hope he was listening, and I look forward to sending him the briefing from the Shoalhaven."

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