Tonia Gray has built a career on connecting people to place. As an educator, advocate, and environmentalist, she has spent decades exploring how communities can thrive when social justice, environmental stewardship, and public policy work together.

Now, as the Greens candidate for the Kiama by-election, Tonia is bringing that same interconnected approach to housing and homelessness. She sees secure, affordable housing not as a stand-alone issue, but as part of a bigger picture that includes climate resilience, community wellbeing, and responsible land use.

Kiama’s current “hidden homelessness” approach means that residents in crisis are often relocated to Wollongong or Bomaderry, placing extra strain on those already experiencing hardship. For Tonia, this raises questions not just about service access, but about the values and priorities shaping local policy.

In this interview, we explore how the Greens would address the housing crisis in ways that integrate affordability, environmental protection, and human dignity and how Tonia believes those principles can be applied in Kiama.

Housing, Homelessness and the Courage to Lead: Dr Tonia Gray on the Kiama By-Election ——

When Dr Tonia Gray talks about housing and homelessness, it comes from lived experience as much as professional expertise. Sitting beside her mother Jeanette at Blue Haven aged care, she reminds us that how we treat our elderly is a true measure of society.

“We want safety, we want care, we want dignity. Isn’t that the least any society should provide?”

For Gray, the Greens candidate in the Kiama by-election, the challenge is not a lack of empty promises, but a failure of execution. Both major parties have let us down in the delivery phase.

“Politicians make all these wonderful promises… but they are not executed, or they’re done so poorly. The execution is what matters. Promises don’t change lives, action does.”

She argues for embedding affordable housing in existing suburbs, not pushing people to the margins. Safe, affordable homes keep people connected to their communities and make those communities safer and more inclusive. Her vision includes banning short-term rental accommodation (STRA) in new developments, so housing is prioritised for essential workers, exploring intergenerational and village-style models that draw on overseas examples, and embedding design principles such as passive solar, water tanks and walkable neighbourhoods into all subdivisions.

“It’s not what you say, it’s what you deliver. People need homes they can actually live in, not just more empty promises.”

Gray stresses that only around six percent of Australia’s 120,000 homeless people are rough sleepers. The majority are hidden, often couch surfing, in overcrowded dwellings or in temporary lodging. In Kiama, rough sleepers are quietly moved on under the radar, from the museum verandah, the showgrounds or camper vans near a church, making the issue less visible but no less real.

The film Frances, screened in Kiama earlier this year, laid bare this reality. It showed how easily a woman who had once lived securely could end up in her car, too proud to ask for help, terrified at night, and clinging to her dog as her last sense of safety. The panel after the screening reminded us that homelessness is often not the result of bad choices or bad people. It can be bad luck, or a sliding door moment in your life, combined with the absence of safety nets. Job loss, illness, divorce, or the death of a partner is sometimes enough to tip someone over the edge.

Older women are the fastest growing group at risk, particularly those leaving relationships they can no longer afford to stay in. Lyn Bailey, who shared her story on the panel, described going from a comfortable family home to the long grind of insecure housing after divorce at 58. She discovered banks would not lend to her because of her age and gender, and the waitlist for social housing was a decade long. Friends were shocked. They were oblivious to the fact that she had been in crisis. Her story mirrors many others, silent struggles hidden in plain sight.

Gray wants to see practical, community-based responses. She points to the Blue Mountains model where households take turns offering short-term refuge and suggests Kiama could do the same. But she warns that homelessness cannot be solved on yearly funding cycles. “To have a sustainable platform, services need five-year contracts that go beyond election cycles. Promises are easy for our vulnerable populations, but execution and delivery are everything.”

For Gray the issue comes down to political willpower. Developer contributions could be used to fund affordable housing, but councils rarely engage the public in how those funds are spent. Strategic sites like Bombo Quarry or Havilah Place could provide innovative housing solutions if multiple stakeholders were brought together instead of pushed apart.

“Real visionary leadership means making bold choices, even when they are unpopular. It means capping short-term rentals, setting quotas for affordable housing, and facing up to the uncomfortable truth that homelessness exists here in our postcode, not somewhere else. Stop promising and start delivering.”

She adds that this is not only about compassion but economics. Poorly executed housing policy costs ratepayers twice, once when it fails and again when the problem returns larger than before.

Every dollar spent on preventative housing and aged care saves multiple dollars later in health, policing and emergency services. Housing also underpins the local economy. When essential workers cannot afford to live locally, three things happen. Staff shortages make it harder for hospitals, aged-care, schools, and essential services to fill shifts, often leading to higher costs for overtime or casual staff.

Reduced reliability means longer commutes and slower response times in emergencies, whether it is a paramedic or a plumber. And a weaker local economy results when workers spend their wages in the towns where they live rather than in the communities where they work.

Liveability, active transport and walkability are also part of her vision. Walkable communities reduce household transport costs, ease congestion, and keep rates lower by cutting infrastructure strain. They lift local business activity and consistently boost property values.

“When we design villages where people can walk to shops, schools, parks and services, we do more than make life easier. We save households money, strengthen the economy and protect the environment at the same time.”

There are successful models already working. Link Wentworth runs monthly Community Support Hubs in the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Penrith and Ryde. These “one-stop support shops” bring together free services to make it easier for people to know what is available and how to access it. The hubs have seen fantastic outcomes and helped countless people.

Whether talking about her mother’s care at Blue Haven, the stories told in Frances, or the hidden struggles of women after divorce, Gray circles back to the same principle: dignity. For her, it is the marker of the society we want to be.

The Kiama by-election is about more than who fills a seat. It is about whether we have leaders willing to listen, act and deliver, and whether we can find the courage to face what we would rather not see. The Greens have actively been championing for housing and homeless reform for decades.  For more information, visit here 

Dr Tonia Gray emphasises that The Greens have long championed housing and homelessness reform. She points to the party’s 50-point plan and policies as the foundation of their costed election platform and ongoing work in parliament and community.

Dr Tonia Gray (Left) also joins the SAHSSI30 White Sands Walk each year, a community walk along the beautiful Jervis Bay coastline that raises funds for domestic violence survivors in the Shoalhaven and local women staying in crisis accommodation.

It is a grassroots, community-driven event that has grown out of a desire to make positive change for women and children in the region. With hundreds of participants, the walk has already raised nearly $100,000 for SAHSSI Nowra Women’s Refuge, keeping the focus on the urgent issues of gender-based violence and homelessness in the local area.

The funds raised by SAHSSI30 have given families living on or below the poverty line access to activities and experiences they would not otherwise have had. Dr Gray warmly invites the community to support this important cause and donate to SAHSSI here.

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