Another Mascot Towers resident, Alton Chen, told the inquiry he may have been better off investing in a caravan.

"Perhaps what I should have done is invest in a caravan because at least, if it was burnt down, at least I'd be covered by the insurance," he said.

Mr Chen said he and hundreds of other residents were still waiting for answers to what caused the 132-unit block to be deemed structurally unsound.

"For a lot of us, this is the only place that we have that we call home ... we don't know when we can go back, a lot of uncertainties are right in front of us," Mr Chen said.

"We've got to pay mortgages for a place we can't live in."

Mr Chen told the Inquiry into Regulation of Building Standards, Building Quality and Building Disputes that he still didn't know whether he would be able to access insurance.

"Developers and builders are protected by a limitation period ... limited liability protects the companies. What about us, where is our protection?" he asked.

A series of apartments across Sydney have been evacuated in the past year, raising questions about the state's building standards, and the government's capacity to hold developers to account.

The controversy was sparked on Christmas Eve 2018 when the 36-floor Opal Tower was evacuated once residents heard loud cracking sounds emanating from the building.

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Six months later, Mascot Towers were evacuated after cracks emerged in the structure.

The Herald then revealed residents of 30 loft-style apartments in Zetland were forced to move out last year, intensifying pressure on the Berejiklian government to improve the state's building standards.

Monday's inquiry heard from several Department of Customer Service representatives earlier in the day, who struggled to answer when laws passed in Parliament last October would be fully implemented.

The laws provided new powers for state agencies to monitor the behaviour of participants in the building industry, and to cancel the registration of private certifiers offending conduct provisions.

They also included provisions to ensure certifiers, who inspect construction sites and issue development certificates confirming legal requirements have been met, do not have conflicts of interest.

John Tansey, the executive director of regulatory policy at the department, said the new regulations were still being developed and would then need to be consulted on by affected parties.

"You'd understand the frustration that legislation that was hurried through Parliament in October with a degree of urgency is still not in affect and there's been no published draft regulations," Greens MP and committee member David Shoebridge asked Mr Tansey.

"I note your questions," Mr Tansey responded.

Mr Chen told the committee that affected residents needed more government support than they were receiving.

"A lot of us can't afford to go bankrupt ... We need the government's support."