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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/09/extra-10000-australians-becoming-homeless-each-month-up-22-in-three-years-report-says>
"Ten thousand extra Australians are becoming homeless each month – a 22%
increase in the past three years – according to a new report from UNSW and
Homelessness Australia.
It comes as those on the frontline say they are seeing an uptick in people with
employment coming in for housing help, including part-time teachers and nurses.
Homelessness services across the country help 95,000 people each month, with
the number of new clients who were already homeless before seeking support
increasing 9% over the three years to 2023-24, and now exceeding 10,000 a
month.
Of the extra 10,000 people, 4,636 were rough sleeping, while others were couch
surfing or living in short-term accommodation, the report found.
UNSW City Futures Research Centre’s Hal Pawson said that the rise in
homelessness was largely caused by the increase in rents.
“We’ve seen an extraordinary period of rent inflation, which has run over the
last four years,” he said.
Taking inflation into account, there had been a “29% real increase over four
years” which was a “pretty hefty rise”, he said.
“That has definitely pushed a lot of people into a riskier situation, or into
homelessness.”
There has also been an increase in employed Australians accessing services, the
report found, with the proportion of employed people increasing from 10.9% to
15.3% or by 33,000 people, over the five years to 2022-23.
Across the decade the number of social housing dwellings has fallen from more
than 6% in the 1990s to barely 4% by 2021. It is expected 50,000 new social
homes will be built this decade, which would be an 11% increase on the 2023
levels. Despite this increase, which we “should warmly welcome”, Pawson said it
would not be enough.
“It’s way more than we’ve seen for a very long time,” he said. “But compared to
the scale of need, it’s still a fairly small contribution. A lot more is
needed.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
