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The federal mid-year budget fails to address the housing crisis with a great deal of work still needed, says Homelessness Australia (HA).
HA says the latest official data shows that 109,557 people had sought help to find long-term housing in 2023-24 with just 4937 finding a home.
There has been a 15.7 per cent increase in the numbers of people seeking help due to housing costs in the last year. It says almost 281,000 clients were helped by homelessness agencies in the last year alone with a 13 per cent increase in rough sleepers getting help.
The HA said this inability to house people has been compounded by rising costs of living and rental stress which, together, left almost three million Australians at risk of homelessness.
The HA says homelessness support services are overwhelmed by soaring demand.
Of the Federal Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), released on Wednesday, it said contained no new investments in social housing or homelessness services.
“It’s disappointing the federal government has missed an opportunity to make desperately needed investments in social housing and homelessness services,” HA CEO Kate Colvin says.
“Homelessness services are being swamped, there’s a dire shortage of social housing and almost three million Australians are at risk of homelessness.
“Despite welcome commitments to build social housing, even factoring those in, the country is still facing a social housing shortfall of more than 600,000 homes,” she says.
“Homelessness services are in the eye of the housing storm. The mid-year budget update provided no new resources to respond to the overwhelming need we’re seeing on the ground,” Colvin says.
She wants major new investments in social housing to build on the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and other commitments, along with a greater investment in homelessness services.
A report into rough sleeping shows it surged across Australia with a 22 per cent increase nationally in the three years to 2023-24.
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