FOR most people, having a place to call home is one of those enormous privileges that we too often take for granted. Not so for Vickie Clutterbuck, and a number of Hunter residents for whom it is not only a growing problem but a fact of daily life.
Data from the 2016 census released in March 2018 revealed that Hunter homelessness was on the rise, this newspaper reported at the time. That was before COVID arrived to upend many people's worlds, before the war in Ukraine. It also pre-dates the recent sharp spikes in cost of living and the interest rate rises designed to quell them, not to mention the housing affordability problems for many trying to enter the market. It is unlikely we can expect the figures from the most recent census to look much better when they are released.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said Vickie Clutterbuck, whose story is detailed in Tuesday's Newcastle Herald, was one of an increasing number of constituents who had contacted her for help in recent months because they were at immediate risk of homelessness.
"It's already been bad and now it's getting worse, particularly with people who are renting who either owners are selling or owners are moving back to their own house," she said.
"What we have seen here is a significant increase in people seeking our support, but in addition to the usual people seeking assistance - we've still got people already in the system having trouble accessing emergency housing and all of that, which is a constant - we're seeing that change in demographic where we've also got long-term reliable renters at immediate risk of homelessness. We're seeing a rise overall as well as an entirely new demographic."
Ms Washington said homelessness was a complex problem. "For me the bottom line is we've had no investment in social housing for over a decade," she said. "Last year we had $67,000 in the budget for social housing and this year we increased it to $130,000. That's pathetic and goes nowhere near addressing any of the problems we've got."
It is difficult to argue. Affordable housing developments have begun to emerge in recent years, but public housing in this region at least appears to be a relic of a bygone area. Despite this, the people who rely upon it are anything but.
This is not a problem that has gone away on its own, or one that governments have effectively tackled to date. It is far from simple, and the reasons behind homelessness can be myriad. Nonetheless, the symptom of rents racing ever higher and home ownership fading from possibility for some is that an adequate safety net of accommodation becomes a necessity.
There are no easy answers, but leaders are chosen to take on the hardest questions. If they're taking homelessness for granted, or failing to stem its growth, it is an egregious betrayal of those who need them most.
