Australia’s housing affordability expected to worsen and homelessness soar under fossil-fuelled future

University of Sydney researchers say global heating driven by fossil fuel use could quadruple homelessness in a decade. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Global heating could worsen housing affordability, push up rents and quadruple homelessness in a decade without fairer housing policies and action to reduce emissions, new research has found.

Home prices and rents in Australia are influenced by a complex mix of factors, from incomes and mortgage rates to insurance premiums, available land and population.