AUSTRALIA likes to think of itself as the nation where everyone has the chance to own their own home, and home ownership rates are certainly higher than in some comparably developed nations.
But the idea of a home for everyone is no more a reality than the myth of Australia as a classless society.
For a growing number of Australians without the financial wherewithal to get a toehold at the foot of the property ladder, the dream of a safe and stable roof over one's head can be more of a mirage than a dream.
At the Hunter Homeless Connect Day yesterday, a number of service providers spoke of growing workloads, and of housing stress and homelessness affecting a wider range of individuals and families than had traditionally been the case.
No two situations are the same, and homelessness can be viewed, in many cases, as a symptom of a broader malaise.
But the Newcastle Herald was told that homelessness was in no way confined to those on welfare, and that the rise of the gig economy and its associated lack of permanent employment was adding to the difficulty that many in otherwise regular work were having in securing a home loan.
It's obvious, then, that government policies and economic circumstances influencing the housing market can have untoward impacts on poorer Australians.
That's one side of the homelessness coin.
The other is the way that homelessness itself is treated by governments, and the degree to which the welfare sector, including NGOs and faith-based charities, can do meaningful work to help people stay safe and secure.
Governments will say they are spending record amounts on homelessness, and there would seem to be no shortage of agencies in the "homelessness space".
But programs can be difficult to access, and the amounts that governments say they are spending on housing will often include the commercial loans that housing providers will take on to build new community housing, or group homes, for example, only to be paid back, over subsequent decades, by government "funding" through rental subsidies.
It is a complicated subject, no doubt.
But all the policy detail in the world is of little use if it doesn't produce practical outcomes; in this case, a roof over everyone's head.
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