A sharp increase in the number of Australians facing homelessness has prompted calls to increase the amount of social housing available for the vulnerable. Source: AAP.
The number of people at risk of homelessness increased by 63 per cent to three million people, with many frontline services unable to meet demand, a report by Homelessness Australia found.
The figures were alarming and the federal Government needed to increase services for the sector and boost housing, Homelessness Australia Kate Colvin said.
“Pressure at homelessness services is so intense. There are so many people being squeezed out of rental markets and services do not have the resources to respond,” Ms Colvin said yesterday.
“The critical thing to protect people from homelessness and escape from it is really the amount of social housing.”
The report found families with children seeking emergency accommodation couldn’t be provided with help about one in every five days, while people without kids were turned away every one in two days.
Unaccompanied minors were turned away one in every nine days.
Over a two-week period, there were 200 hours where services had to close their doors, 325 hours of unanswered phone calls and 666 urgent emails staff could not reply to.
“We have had a massive increase in homelessness support needed at the frontline and workers don’t have the resources they need,” Ms Colvin said.
“People are reaching out for support and services can’t answer the phone or they’re having to close their doors.”
The reports estimated that in 2022 there were between 2.7 million and 3.2 million Australians at risk of homelessness, a 63 per cent increase from those at risk between 2016 and 2022.
The homelessness report comes as the Albanese Government is looking to get its long-stalled housing policy through Parliament in the final sitting fortnight of the year.
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Housing plea as millions more at risk of being homeless (By Andrew Brown and Emily Verdouw, AAP)
