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.”
Those on the frontline of the crisis say it is harder to find people a bed, even in an emergency shelter.
Christie Haggard is the team leader at VincentCare and said the organisation had seen teachers and nurses accessing services.
“We see people who have income, who are teachers or nurses, but will be working part-time and can’t cover the cost of living,” she said.
“Rent is increasing significantly and people are unable to afford it. So they’ll come in for help because they’re in rent arrears or for help finding a new property because they have been trying, and there’s just nothing that’s affordable for them any more.”
Haggard said they see 150 people each day, and each day they add to their internal waitlist for social housing, which is now more than 300.
“People are just not guaranteed a spot,” she said. “The system is clogged.”
While welcoming rent assistance increases and commitments to social housing investment by federal and state governments, Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said much more must be done to address what has become a homelessness emergency.
“Funding for homelessness services has failed to rise to meet demand and the whole system is buckling under the pressure,” Colvin said.
“Governments need to take immediate action and deliver an emergency homelessness investment so that when people reach out for homelessness support there is someone there to help them.”
