The housing crisis is affecting workers whose job is to help others find a home, as stress climbs along with demand, says national campaign Everybody’s Home.
It says its new ‘No Way Out’ sector survey of more than 70 frontline housing organisations found they are operating at breaking point.
They have been pushed there by continual demand, escalating complexity of cases and a diminishing ability for staff to help.
The survey found that 89% of respondents say staff workloads had increased over the past year while 98% expect demand to rise further in 2026 and 82% reported a major disruption or severe threat to their operation.
As for staff, 71% of organisations report greater stress/burnout among staff while 78% says housing insecurity is affecting their own workers or volunteers.
Of the respondents, 72% believe the greater workload contributed to staff turnover in the past year with 27 % of respondents considered leaving their role.
Everybody’s Home is a national campaign launched in 2018 by housing, homelessness and welfare organisations. It has reached more than 500 organisations, businesses and councils, and more than 43,000 individuals.
HOUSING SERVICES ‘AT BREAKING POINT’
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize says the findings reveal the sector is at breaking point with frontline services trapped in crisis mode.
“These organisations are at the frontline of the crisis, and they’re telling us they can see no way out. They’re having to help more people, with more complex needs, for longer periods of time,” she says.
“This is not a short-term spike or seasonal surge. Housing stress is getting more extreme every year, putting relentless pressure on staff and stretching organisations to their limits.
“With so many people in need of help, services are reaching the limits of how they can help.
“Staff turnover and burnout is becoming more common, and services are being forced to turn people away because there are so many people in need,” Azize says.
“The crisis is affecting the very workers who are on the frontlines of it.
“Services right across the sector are calling for the federal government to take responsibility with a national response that matches the scale of the emergency, by ending the social housing shortfall, winding back tax handouts for property investors, raising income support and protecting renters,” she says.
“Without action, more and more people will need help, and workers will keep burning out.
“In this year’s Federal Budget, the government has the opportunity to take action and prevent insecurity from deepening further and becoming more entrenched,” Azize says.
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