As Australian incomes collapse, homelessness is booming, with 10,000 extra Australians becoming homeless each month, according to a new report from UNSW and Homelessness Australia.
Below are some key highlights from the report.
“More than three-quarters of services (77%) and nearly two thirds of LGAs (62%) reported homelessness having ‘significantly increased’ since 2019-20, with well over half of the former (59%) also reporting ‘significantly increased’ numbers in Q1/2 2024 compared with Q1/2 2023”.
“More than three-quarters of homelessness services (76%) reported finding it ‘much harder’ to find suitable housing for clients in mid-2024 compared with 12 months earlier, with another 19% finding it ‘somewhat harder’”.
“As a result, people are becoming stuck in homelessness for longer”.
“Housing affordability stress is the identified ‘main factor’ triggering homelessness that has most markedly increased in recent times. In the three years to 2023-24, the flow of new service users reporting this as the main factor prompting them to seek support jumped by 36%”.
“Since 2020, rents have risen at rates unseen since 2008. During the period March 2020 to June 2024, the median advertised weekly rent for all property types across all cities and regions rose from $413 to $624 – a 51% increase”.
“The early 2020s have also seen rental vacancy rates plummet across Australia. Since 2022 rates in most locations have remained at close to rock bottom levels of 1-2%. The combination of reduced affordability and low vacancy rates has exacerbated risk of homelessness for low income and vulnerable households”.
The report conveniently fails to mention that the federal government ramped immigration to a record high, with around one million net migrants arriving in the Albanese government’s first two years in office.
Record temporary visa arrivals, including students, drove the surge in net overseas migration.
Rents surged in tandem with the rise in net overseas migration.
This drove rental affordability to an all-time low.
In other words, the federal government, which imported record numbers of renters into Australia without taking into account where they would live, bears direct responsibility for the rise in homlessness.
