The Salvation Army has reported an increase in the number of homeless individuals, particularly among children and youth. They maintain that 12 interest rate rises, a rental crisis and a brutal winter where heating has gone from a necessity to luxury have contributed to the results they are seeing.

The Salvo’s know how hard the current economic climate hurts Australians. The situation is dire for the already homeless and those now finding themselves without stable accommodation.

“Never has it been harder to find accommodation even if you can afford it,” The Salvation Army’s General Manager of Homelessness, Jed Donoghue, says. “So, those who were already at a disadvantage, who were already struggling, are now desperate. And so many – too many – are children and young people.”

Southern Youth and Family Service provides housing and homelessness support across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven, Goulburn, Cooma, Bega, and more.

The Bugle asked CEO Narelle Clay for her thoughts about this issue.

 “The housing crisis is desperate. I have worked in this area for 30 years and never seen it so bad.

“The lack of affordable housing, including social is very serious in our own Illawarra, including Warilla and Kiama. There are no properties to rent if people are on a low income. There are up to 10-year waiting lists for social housing.”

She reveals that, as a community-based organisation providing housing and homelessness services, they see the severe impacts of the worsening housing crisis.

“We have homelessness services which are full and cannot assist people to move independently as there is no available rental properties and long waits for social housing. This means people who are newly homeless cannot find a vacancy in support services.

“As ownership has become less and less affordable, a growing number of people are renting, with over 8 million Australians now making homes in the rental sector.

“Around two in five of these households include dependent children, and a growing number of people are long-term renters who will rent through their entire life. Renting is no longer a temporary step.

“The current state of the rental market is characterised by instability, insecurity, and a lack of adequate protections for renters. Market rents are unaffordable, with many renters struggling to secure a new rental property in the fiercely competitive private rental market.

“Most renters continue to face significant insecurity, making it very difficult to assert their rights, such as requesting repairs. Many rental homes provided are of a poor standard.”

Ms Clay suggests, “Improving access to social and affordable housing and assisting other renters in the private market will benefit the whole community. It will improve people’s access to stability, to better health outcomes, to be able to access training, education and employment, to obtain a decent income and contribute to the economy.”

It is estimated that there were 122,494 people homeless on Census night in 2021 (up from 116,427 in 2016 or a 5.2 per cent increase), according to The Australian Bureau of Statistics. Of these, 45,850 were children and young people.

A report by Youth Development Australia Ltd (YDA) which was presented at the National Children and Youth Homelessness Conference in Melbourne just recently, asks the Australian government to work collaboratively with youth homelessness services and young people with lived experience to develop a plan that addresses the growing issue of child and youth homelessness.

Natalee O’Brien, The Salvation Army’s General Manager of Youth Services, agrees, citing attitudes among landlords towards young adults with little rental history or income, long rental queues, the decades required to save for a house deposit and the complexities of disadvantage.

“This means young people face more significant challenges to overcoming homelessness than those in other demographics,” she says.

“Without appropriate intervention, young people experiencing homelessness are at a much higher risk of failing to gain an education, entering the labour market or receiving support to recover from past trauma or substance misuse.

“Our work with young people experiencing highly challenging circumstances has shown they can thrive when the drivers of disadvantage, discrimination and poverty are removed.”

Another report by ‘Everybody's Home’ was recently released as part of a national campaign to fix the housing crisis. Launched in 2018 by a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations to achieve change, the campaign is now supported by 500 organisations, businesses and councils, and 40,000 individuals across Australia.

The report highlights that a massive 98 per cent of survey respondents answered ‘yes’ to being concerned about the housing crisis, and the overwhelming majority (67 per cent) were in housing stress (spending more than 30 per cent of their household budget on housing).

These figures show that more than half are experiencing extreme housing stress, spending 50 per cent or more of their income on housing. And 57 per cent expressed significant concerns regarding their current living arrangements, such as high costs, disrepair, temporary living arrangements, lack of safety, inadequate basic amenities, and limited access to essential services.

The housing crisis particularly impacts people who rely on government income support, says The Salvation Army’s General Manager of Policy and Advocacy, Jennifer Kirkaldy.

“Ninety per cent of people accessing our services who are receiving the JobSeeker payment are living below the poverty line,” Ms Kirkaldy says. “We know 77 per cent reported financial stress and 73 percent of respondents are struggling to afford food.”

“Our research has shown that people who rely on JobSeeker are actually going backwards after paying for housing and other non-discretionary expenses. On these essentials alone, they are having to spend more than they receive in income support.

“When you consider so many trapped in a poverty cycle are young people just starting out in life, and that Youth Allowance is at an even lower and more inadequate level than JobSeeker, the need for reform is acute and immediate.”

 Narelle Clay says, “Governments should aim for investment consistent with meeting a target of a minimum 10 per cent of all housing being public or community housing by 2036 (58,000 homes per annum).”