Advocates are calling for federal government intervention to combat the impacts of homelessness in Australia as charities report a surge in demand for their services during the pandemic.
At Homelessness Week gets underway, Homelessness Australia says a diminishing provision of affordable housing is pushing more Australians into homelessness, a trend COVID-19 has only exacerbated.
Since 2013, the number of people presenting to homelessness services has increased by almost 15 per cent from 254,000 to 290,462, Homelessness Australia says.
CEO Jenny Smith says the organisation was already turning away 250 people per day even before the pandemic.
"Now we know that has increased. And we know that more people coming to the doors of our services are not even being able to get in the door" she told SBS News.
"We are seeing people who have lost their incomes as a consequence of the pandemic coming to our services, as well as people we would always see: children escaping family violence, in particular, is the biggest group coming to us.
"So it is just a nightmare."
Homelessness Australia has released data showing the federal government spending on social housing and homelessness measures over the past 10 years will soon surpass $1 billion.
At the same time, housing affordability has only worsened with Australian house prices increasing by 50 per cent and rents by 31 per cent in the same period.
The proportion of Australian households living in social housing in the decade to 2020 declined 0.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent.
'All it requires is political will'
Ms Smith said low levels of incomes and welfare payments, soaring rental prices and the number of women and children fleeing due to domestic violence are fuelling the rise in homelessness across the country.
"To have a Centrelink income that is grossly inadequate and with rents at the lowest end of the market increasing hand over fist. It is a disastrous recipe that is only increasing homelessness."
"We need urgent government intervention. This problem can be overcome. All it requires is political will."
In 2020, one-third of the 54,000 women and children escaping family violence seeking accommodation were turned away due to a lack of available shelter.
The number of older women aged over 45 facing homelessness increased by 31 per cent from 2011 to 2016, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
"At the last Census (2016), which was nearly five years ago, women over the age of 55 were the fastest-growing group.
Ms Smith says refugees and Indigenous Australians are also over-represented in homeless populations.
"Aboriginal people are grossly over-represented in the people being without a home every day of the week.
"But the people we are increasingly seeing are people who have lost their income through the pandemic, whether that be small business people, or people in insecure employment who haven't been able to continue that work.
"The other group has been refugees - people who are not eligible for Centrelink incomes in our community, and for whom no provision has been made."
Housing affordability worsens
Property market data shows housing and rental affordability has plummeted, locking vulnerable populations out of the market.
The impact has been felt by COVID-essential workers in the care and services sector, according to analysis of SQM rent data by Everybody’s Home, the national campaign against homelessness.
Rent on an apartment would cost at least one-third of an essential care worker's weekly income in 87 of Australia’s 104 geographic regions.
Property research firm CoreLogic has found Australian house prices are rising at their fastest annual rate in more than 17 years.
The 16.1 per cent growth over the year is a new record, eclipsing the previous one set in February 2004.
In December 2020, Australia recorded the highest monthly increase in rental rates since 2010 - at 0.6 per cent.
Rental moratoriums and JobKeeper provided temporary support, but a number of vulnerable Australians are failing to get enough income support to avoid homelessness.
Ms Smith said short-term measures - such as actions by state governments to accommodate homeless people on the street in hotels - provided some help, but failed to tackle the scale of the problem.
"Finland has essentially ended rough sleeping purely by investing in social housing and support for people who need it to keep their housing. They have been at it for about 20 years. And if you're in Helsinki you don't see rough sleepers. Australia can do the same."
Property market data shows the number of rental properties available for under $400 has hit record lows. Source: AAP
Housing Minister defends funding levels
Housing and Homelessness Minister Michael Sukkar says he believes the current federal government spend on social housing and homelessness is at the right level.
"We have made additional investments. We are investing more now than the former government was - contrary to their claims," he told ABC RN Drive on Monday.
"The National Affordable Housing Agreement as it was then known was a $1.3 billion federal payment to the states and territories. It is now $1.6 billion under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, which is renamed and was renegotiated by the prime minister when he was the treasurer and I was his assistant.
"In that we also made certain there was homelessness funding, which was subject to ongoing agreements between the states and territories and the Commonwealth. We were the first government to make that funding certain."
Mr Sukkar said 13,000 social homes have been built in two and a half years after the establishment of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation.
"We have created this vehicle that means federal government support can be even bigger and even better."
'Completely solvable'
In 2008, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd outlined a national policy to halve national homelessness by 2020.
He urged the Council of Australian Governments to commit to a 55 per cent increase in funding to a National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. This equated to more than $800 million between 2009 and 2012.
It also included a commitment to additional social housing for homeless people of $400 million over two financial years.
Ms Smith said she hopes the pandemic encourages the federal government to consider a new approach.
"We don't have a national strategy for ending homelessness - or at least reducing it dramatically. And we need one."
Not acting now risks further costs down the track, she said.
"If a child has the experience of homelessness, they're much, much more likely to have a range of difficulties as an adult."
Anglicare Australia said at least 500,000 new social homes are needed in Australia.
The charity's rental affordability snapshot found that only one per cent of rentals were affordable for a person on minimum wage.
"Investing in housing would be the most powerful way to tackle our housing crisis. We’re calling on the government to take action this Homelessness Week – and make sure everyone has a place to call home,” said Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers.
Australia's homelessness population is also reflected in the Australian Census, which takes place every five years. The next Census takes place next week on 10 August.
In 2016, the number of those who were in the Census increased by 14 per cent compared to 2011. The figures were 116,427 homeless in 2016 - up from 102,439 homeless in 2011.
