Compared to the rest of the world, income inequality is not particularly high in Australia, nor is it getting much worse.

The real problem is housing inequality.

Rising house prices have increased wealth inequality. Rising housing costs have dramatically widened the gap between high and low disposable incomes.

Decades of sky-rocketing house prices have driven the highest proportion of Australians into the private rental market since 1960, with up to 7 per cent of poor households paying three-quarters of their income to landlords.

In a report that found the private rental market worked well for most people, the Productivity Commission said the entire market was changing rapidly, in part due to the surge in house prices that was leaving families, the disabled and those over 65 most at risk.

All Australians are spending more of their incomes on housing, but worsening affordability is hurting low-income earners the most. Almost half of low-income Australians in the private rental market suffer rental stress. It’s probably no coincidence that homelessness is rising.

In this State of Affairs event at the State Library of Queensland, Executive Director of National Shelter, Adrian Pisarski, and Grattan Institute CEO John Daley discuss what’s the best way to help low-income earners deal with rising housing costs and to reduce the number of Queenslanders who are homeless.

Lord Mayors of Australia’s capital cities are today calling for action on homelessness, urging the Federal Government to make social and affordable housing in inner cities a key infrastructure priority.

CCCLM Chair, Lord Mayor of Hobart Anna Reynolds said “Australia is in the midst of a housing affordability and homelessness crisis. It is completely unacceptable that in a country as prosperous as ours, over 100,000 people are homeless every night.

In short, securing the basic need for housing is putting people in more and more debt. This often means any attempt at “dropping out” of market consumerism first involves a whole lot of “dropping in”. The consequences of this reality are anything but simple, local and sustainable.

A different type of land and housing opportunity is needed for reasons of sustainability and equity. Central here is the recognition that access to land, just as with air and water, is not a market product. It is a human right and should be recognised as such.

Almost half of people released from Victorian prisons are returning to jail within two years despite the government spending more than $1.6 billion supervising and managing inmates.

Analysis by the Council to Homeless Persons found the cost of prisoner support services had risen by 83 per cent over five years but many prisoners were being released with nowhere stable to live, increasing their chances of reoffending.

It is urging the government to provide more social housing so prisoners are not released into homelessness only to return to jail soon after.

Demand for social housing in Australia could be more than 300 per cent higher than waiting lists suggest, according to new research.

A report from Compass Housing Services used census data to gauge social housing demand across the country, and modeled potential future demand from shifts in the labour market caused by automation and artificial intelligence.

There are concerns the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability may be compromised before it has even started.