Australia’s rental crisis is now driving a homelessness “national emergency”, according to a new Mission Australia report.
Rents are soaring across the major capital cities amid a record shortage of stock:
Source: CoreLogic
“Our frontline staff are seeing an influx of people seeking help from our homelessness services, and they’re telling us the housing situation is the worst they’ve ever seen it”, Mission Australia’s CEO Sharon Callister says.
“Low income support payments or low wages, combined with the stark shortage of social and affordable housing, skyrocketing rental stress and the rising cost of living, have escalated Australia’s housing and homelessness situation into a national emergency”.
“Increasingly, we are also seeing a different group of people seek our help in homelessness services: people who are employed, but just cannot meet skyrocketing rents”.
“Without a significant boost of social and affordable housing across the country, homelessness cannot be eradicated”.
“Mission Australia is calling on governments for greater investment to build the one million new social and affordable homes that will be needed over the next 20 years to ensure that everyone who seeks help is connected to a safe place to call home”.
According to the this month’s federal budget, Australia’s population will grow by 2.18 million people over the next five years, with the majority of this growth taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane:
Source: 2023 Federal Budget
That is the same as adding five Canberra’s worth of people in five years, or one Perth.
Meanwhile, this population explosion will occur at a time as actual housing construction is declining:
There is only outcome for the rental market: continued tightness, skyrocketing rents, and increased homelessness.
Australia will never be able to build enough homes as long as its population continues to grow like a science experiment through extreme immigration.
Australia’s rental and homelessness problem is largely a result of excessive immigration.
