Experts warn a rise in ‘hostile architecture’ is making life even harder for our most vulnerable citizens.
When Len James found himself on the street, he said those design features made him feel unwanted in his own city.
What’s next? Advocates want to see authorities recognise the practice is inhumane and does nothing to fix the real problem.
The Council to Homeless Persons Victoria submission to the Victorian Government 2024-25 State Budget.
Homelessness is unacceptable, avoidable and within our reach to resolve. At present, our homelessness system stands at a critical juncture, and far too many Victorians are enduring the hardships of homelessness. Our goal is for homelessness to be rare, brief, and non-recurring.
To achieve this, the 2024-25 Victorian Budget must urgently address the immediate housing crisis, whilst simultaneously developing and investing in a strategy to end homelessness in Victoria. This strategy must centre on housing first and ensure enough public and community housing for Victorians’ needs. The rates of Homelessness in Victoria are too high.
For people on the long social housing waiting list, getting into secure, affordable housing is life-changing. Our study starkly illustrates what a difference it makes.
We interviewed people who were on the waiting list, and again about a year later. Some had moved into social housing and told us how it had transformed their lives.
The positive impacts included improved mental health, reintegration into society, reuniting with children, access to facilities the rest of us take for granted and greater job opportunities.
As debate rages in Canberra over how to tackle Australia’s housing affordability problem, rental prices continue to surge. But what sparked the current crisis and are there signs of improvement?
Alan Kohler explains in this YouTube video.
The sheer number of Airbnb and Stayz short-stay rentals is a symptom of a system that’s unfair at its core.
Debate is once again raging about the role vacant homes and short-stay rentals play in pushing up the cost of housing.
Much of the commentary about the issue has missed the point, treating it as an isolated problem. But the sheer number of holiday homes and short-stay rentals across Australia are a symptom of a housing system that’s unfair at its core.
Maiy Azize is spokesperson for Everybody’s Home and deputy director of Anglicare Australia.
The Productivity Commission says 45,000 extra dwellings could have been built in Sydney between 2017 and 2022 by raising building heights.
Sydney is on track to be “the city with no grandchildren” as high housing costs drive young families to the regions and interstate. New South Wales Productivity Commission research found Sydney lost twice as many people aged from 30 to 40 as it gained between 2016 and 2021. The driving factor for the exodus was unaffordable housing costs, highlighting the need for greater housing density across the city, the research found.
The housing minister, Julie Collins, says she is in discussions about better homeless deaths data collection with the states and territories.
The federal housing minister, Julie Collins, has described hundreds of premature homelessness deaths as “completely unacceptable” amid a sector-wide push for the establishment of a reporting scheme to shine a light on the crisis. Guardian Australia this week published the findings of a 12-month investigation of 627 homelessness deaths, finding a three-decade life expectancy gap and an average age of death of 44, and widespread systemic failings across the housing, health and justice systems.
Hundreds of Australians experiencing homelessness are dying more than 30 years prematurely in a nationwide crisis fuelled by despair, critical housing shortages, a breakdown in health provision, violence on the streets and failures of the justice system.
A 12-month Guardian Australia investigation identifying and examining more than 600 cases has found people experiencing homelessness are dying at an average age of 44, a shocking life expectancy gap that experts say is worse than any other disadvantaged group in the country.
Melbourne rough sleeper Morgan has spent years getting by with the help of cash donations from strangers, allowing him to get what he needs when he needs it.
Some people experiencing homelessness still use cash to get by and pay for necessities, support services say. The number of Australians who use cash has halved since COVID-19.
There are calls to decriminalise “begging” and provide more support to help rough sleepers.
Governments have long been urged to reinvest in and build more affordable and social housing stock.
Children living in tents in the bush. Single mums sliding into homelessness after rent increases. Pensioners sleeping in vans after working all their lives.
We’ve all seen stories of the many Australians engulfed by the housing crisis, as well as the fierce debate about how to best go about correcting course. For years there’s been one solution most experts have raised over and over again: building more social and affordable housing.
But it doesn’t seem to have happened yet.