Female and Homeless: Australia’s Housing Crisis

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Australia’s ageing population, high cost of housing, and significant <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/women-property-market-australia">gap</a> in wealth accumulation between men and women across their lifetimes is leading to increasing inequality. </p><p>Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveals that women comprised more than two-thirds of all people seeking homelessness support and were not able to be helped last year.</p><p>And without solutions, this crisis will continue to snowball.</p><p>“[The] data shows that women continue to bear the brunt of any crisis, whether it be fires, a pandemic, or an economic recession,” Chair of Homelessness Australia Jenny Smith says.</p><p>The AIHW December figures show that in 2019 to 2020, 260 people each day seeking homelessness support missed out. And more than two-thirds, or 67 per cent, of this group were women or girls.</p><p>“This includes many women who were presenting to homelessness services with young children,&quot; Smith says. “Last year, there were 11,201 children under ten who missed out on support.”</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>More than 400,000 women over 45 are at risk</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>As demand for homelessness services continually exceeds capacity, women over the age of 45 are one of the fastest-growing groups of people who are homeless in Australia.</p><p>An estimated 405,000 women over the age of 45 were at risk of housing affordability stress and subsequently becoming homeless, reveals the &quot;At Risk&quot; policy report from Housing For the Aged Action Group (HAAG), and Social Ventures Australia.</p><p>And census figures show, there was an estimated near 7000 women over the age of 50 who were homeless in 2016, this figure reflecting a 31 per cent increase since 2011.</p><p>Kobi Maglen of HAAG national older persons homelessness prevention says this represents the “tip of the iceberg” as older women don&#x27;t tend to present at homelessness services.</p><p>“But instead make do by missing meals or medication, staying with friends, or housesitting,” she says.</p><p>Women retire with lower average superannuation balances than men due to a range of social and economic factors including the gender wage gap and time taken out of the workforce to care for children or family members. </p><p>Female-dominated industries are more likely to be low paid, casual or part-time, while experiences of family violence, gender and age discrimination more likely to impact their work.</p><p>Maglen says this problem is exacerbated by Australia’s lack of appropriate and affordable housing. </p><p>“And this means that increasing numbers of older women are left with nowhere to go,” she says.</p><p>“This is an unfolding crisis compounded by the economic, social and health impacts of Covid-19. It also highlights the critical link between safe, secure and affordable housing and good health and wellbeing, particularly in older age.”</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>The number of people unable to be assisted in 2020</strong></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Male</th><th></th><th>Female</th><th></th><th>Total Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>Age group</th><th>Number</th><th>Per cent</th><th>Number</th><th>Per cent</th><th></th></tr><tr><th>0-9</th><th>5,479</th><th>24.9</th><th>5,722</th><th>12.8</th><th>11,201</th></tr><tr><th>10-14</th><th>1,951</th><th>8.9</th><th>2,467</th><th>5.5</th><th>4,418</th></tr><tr><th>15-17</th><th>2,133</th><th>9.7</th><th>3,255</th><th>7.3</th><th>5,388</th></tr><tr><th>18-24</th><th>2,830</th><th>12.9</th><th>7,311</th><th>16.3</th><th>10,141</th></tr><tr><th>25-34</th><th>3,124</th><th>14.2</th><th>10,843</th><th>24.2</th><th>13,967</th></tr><tr><th>35-44</th><th>3,195</th><th>14.5</th><th>9,020</th><th>20.1</th><th>12,215</th></tr><tr><th>45-54</th><th>2,232</th><th>10.2</th><th>4,306</th><th>9.6</th><th>6,538</th></tr><tr><th>55-64</th><th>699</th><th>3.2</th><th>1,383</th><th>3.1</th><th>2,082</th></tr><tr><th>65+</th><th>324</th><th>1.5</th><th>476</th><th>1.1</th><th>800</th></tr><tr><th>Total</th><th>21,967</th><th>100</th><th>44,783</th><th>100</th><th>66,750</th></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><sup>^Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) December 2020 data</sup></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Australia&#x27;s homeless women are our mothers, aunties, neighbours, sisters: ‘Like you or me’</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/58461d42-2dbf-4a26-a8eb-dbcc5eb51765.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Marie* was 55 when she first faced homelessness. More than 400,000 women over 45 are at risk of homelessness. *Not her real name. Image: Getty.</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>“I never ever imagined I would find myself in this situation. Ever,” Marie says.</p><p>“Everything changed when my husband and I separated. I had to stop work for health reasons and my relationship could not stand the strain as I was the main earner,” she says. </p><p>At the time, Marie was 55 when she faced homelessness. She had owned homes in the UK and Australia. </p><p>The majority of women that homeless services are in contact with are like “you or me”. They have led “conventional lives”. Marie is educated and has typically worked in management roles.  </p><p>“I had $30,000 in superannuation. My share of our matrimonial home settlement was not enough for me to buy anything, so I put it into my superannuation,” she says.</p><p>“I had been a stay-at-home Mum, which is rarer these days, but my main earning period was between the age of 40-53, hence the low Super.</p><p>“Then followed three years of temporary, insecure housing situations including housesitting, informal “rentals”, living with friends, staying with my son, and a spell in a caravan park. </p><p>“I made 18 moves and the toll on both my physical and mental health was huge.” </p><p>Womens&#x27; Housing Company chief executive Debbie Georgopoulos says access to safe and secure housing is a fundamental human right.</p><p>“Homeless women in Australia are the women we know. They are our Mothers, our aunties, our neighbours, our sisters,” Georgopoulos says. </p><p>“It can happen to anyone.” </p><p>“The solution to homelessness is more housing, it is as simple as that.” </p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Tackling the housing crisis?</strong></h2><p>Minimal construction for most of the past 25 years means that national social housing supply has effectively halved since the 1990s.</p><p>A UNSW City Futures Centre study, commissioned by the Housing Productivity Research Consortium, found that among the best ways to broaden Australia’s economic recovery strategy would be a large-scale national social housing program.</p><p>“A seven billion-dollar investment in social and affordable housing would unlock more than $18 billion in economic expansion, creating more than 18,000 jobs a year over four years, and making a serious dent in homelessness,” Kate Colvin, national spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, says.</p><p>Colvin says the federal government would need to build 12,000 homes a year to help cover the shortfall for over 65s and that&#x27;s not including the support needed for younger Australians.</p><p>“This is a great time for the federal government to be building social housing because every dollar they spend on that construction activity, generates a $1.50 for the economy. So while the economy is still struggling this is something that delivers a double benefit.”</p><p>“A better-balanced housing system is the right thing to do. It also happens to be the smart thing to do.”</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Australia's housing crisis: Women comprised more than two-thirds of all people seeking homelessness support last year...

Coronavirus Lays Bare 5 Big Housing System Flaws to be Fixed

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Australians had become used to walking past rough sleepers. Policymakers too, seemed unmoved by the people huddled in doorways or sheltering in parks under plastic sheets. </p><p>That’s until the Covid-19 pandemic rendered rough sleepers visible, because we’ve all been told to stay home and anyone without a home presents a risk of passing on the virus.</p><p>State governments have suddenly found tens of millions of dollars to create <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/homeless-get-access-to-victorian-aged-care-facilities-to-recover-from-coronavirus">pop-up accommodation</a> or book rough sleepers into <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/hotel-coronavirus-homelessness-pandemic/12177452">hotel rooms. </a></p><p>But such short-term fixes also highlight the entrenched failings of Australia’s housing system. This crisis has laid bare five major vulnerabilities.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>1. Thousands are sleeping rough</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Before the pandemic, street homelessness affected about 8,000 people on any given night, as indicated by census data. But this is almost certainly an underestimate.</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-51398425">Recent UK research</a> showed the number of people sleeping rough in any given year was five times as many as captured in census-type snapshots. There’s no reason to think it’s much different in Australia.</p><p><a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0">Many more people</a> are on the fringe of rough sleeping — couch surfing, for example.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>2. More than a million in rental stress</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our second housing system vulnerability is the body of people – far larger again – living in insecure and unaffordable rental housing. </p><p>Even before this current crisis, housing costs had pushed around <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811507793">1.3 million Australians</a> into poverty. After paying rent they didn’t have enough money left for essentials like food and electricity.</p><p>Now many of these renters will have lost jobs or work hours. Government schemes like JobKeeper and JobSeeker will temporarily help only some—<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/23/australias-coronavirus-relief-exclusions-prove-we-are-not-all-in-this-together">temporary migrants </a>and many casual workers are excluded.</p><p>Measures like the <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2020/04/24/australia-tenancy-laws-coronavirus/">moratorium on evictions</a> are welcome (provided they prove <a href="https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/what-you-need-know-covid-19-evictions-and-rents">robust</a>). The same goes for mortgage pauses by the banks, which might help property owners avoid having to sell if tenants can’t afford the rent.</p><p>But these are only stop-gap efforts.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>3. A shrunken social housing sector</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The third vulnerability is the shrivelled state of social housing, where rents are fixed at an affordable share of income. </p><p>Relative to population, the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9789811507793">number of properties let </a>by public housing agencies and community housing providers has halved since 1991.</p><p>Across most of Australia, waiting lists for social housing are <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/housing-assistance/housing-assistance-in-australia-2019/contents/priority-groups-and-wait-lists#pg4">huge</a>. In most jurisdictions the sector lacks the capacity to offer long-term housing to all the rough sleepers and others currently in hotels.</p><p>Only through emergency unit acquisitions or head-leasing will this be possible.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>4. A mountain of debt</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our fourth housing system vulnerability is housing-related debt. If the pandemic-induced downturn persists and unemployment stays high, this mountain of debt could make the recession much worse.</p><p>In the early 1990s household debt equated to about 70 per cent of disposable household income. In March 2019, the<a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2019/sp-ag-2019-03-20.html#household-debt"> RBA warned</a> the debt-to-income ratio had risen to 190 per cent. The increase was mostly due to increased borrowing to buy homes and investment properties.</p><p>Even before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/one-in-five-households-facing-mortgage-stress-despite-low-rates-20191223-p53mfn">one in five mortgage holders were struggling</a> to meet repayments. If large scale unemployment were to force mass property sales, this could compound the crash as homes flood the market.</p><p>We know from the GFC experience in the USA, Ireland, Spain and elsewhere that a sharp fall in property prices can have severe and long-lasting economic consequences that worsen inequality. </p><p>In the USA, <a href="https://provisionaluniversity.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/vulture-landlords-an-in-depth-interview-with-desiree-fields/">vulture landlords stepped in </a>to buy up large numbers of distressed properties and create rental property empires. Renting from owners of this kind is not an attractive prospect.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/3766a19d-a6f7-48bb-b283-50b7ecfdfc62.png" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Falling prices as the market was flooded by properties whose owners had defaulted on loans deepened the GFC impacts on the US</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><br><strong>5. An unbalanced housing system</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our housing system is vulnerable to shocks because it is unbalanced, our fifth system frailty. Residential construction depends almost entirely on private developers building for sale to individual buyers.</p><p>These buyers are highly sensitive to the outlook for property values. The resulting herd mentality magnifies booms and slumps – a particular problem when they are totally dominant in the market. </p><p>A magnified downturn can bring residential construction to a grinding halt. And while quick to shed labour, construction is slow to re-employ because of risk and long project lead times.</p><p>Construction normally employs more than 1 million Australians with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-focus-of-stimulus-plans-has-to-be-construction-that-puts-social-housing-first-136519">range of skill levels</a>. It generates many more jobs through the building materials supply chain as well as in real estate, property management and financial services. </p><p>This helps to explain why Master Builders Australia and the building union CFMEU have <a href="https://cg.cfmeu.org.au/news/cfmeu-and-mba-call-10b-social-housing-stimulus-package">united in a call</a> to government to invest in building 30,000 social housing units as part of Australia’s post-Covid recovery.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>The need for a national strategy</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The housing system needs more than a one-off crisis boost. The pandemic policy jolt is an opportunity to put Australia’s housing on more stable footings through a Commonwealth-led bipartisan, long-term, national housing strategy.</p><p>A key part of this should be routine social housing construction on a scale that at least keeps pace with population growth. That’s up to <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/306">15,000 homes a year</a>—around five times the current number. </p><p>This may sound ambitious, but it’s below the levels <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=99cfa3f6-858f-467d-91a9-31e384534a5e&amp;subId=31798">regularly achieved</a> between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s.</p><p>And this doesn’t have to mean a return to the post-war approach when state authorities provided public housing. Not-for-profit <a href="https://www.communityhousing.com.au/about-us/">community housing organisations</a> can now take on the major new supply role.</p><p>But we do need a post-war level of ambition. Government has two immediate roles to play in linking housing to a post-pandemic recovery.</p><p>The first is to help avoid a house price crash that will deepen an economic slump. Co-ordinating action with mortgage lenders could help minimise repossessions and avoid a glut of discounted properties on the market.</p><p>Governments may also need to take on distressed projects from private developers. The New South Wales government has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-government-may-buy-up-spare-housing-in-500-million-stimulus-plan-20200427-p54noc.html">already flagged</a> such action.</p><p>The second immediate role for government is to support residential construction as the motor of economic revival by investing in social housing as the <a href="https://www.communityhousing.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SHARP-Program.pdf?x59559">central plank of a stimulus package</a>. </p><p>Government-owned sites and developer-owned landbanks can be used to kick-start activity more quickly than other major infrastructure projects. Community housing providers—especially some larger <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-focus-of-stimulus-plans-has-to-be-construction-that-puts-social-housing-first-136519">faith-based players</a>—also have shovel-ready sites.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/3b5c9ffe-6d4e-488b-b1b1-f026d949074d.png" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ As an economic stimulus, social housing construction could get going faster than other major infrastructure projects. Image: Joel Carrett/AAP</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>These should be the first steps in the national strategy, which should aim to diversify both housing supply and demand.</p><p>Alongside a greater role for community housing, this could include a <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/how-can-australian-build-rent-product-contribute-urban-renewal-and-affordable-housing-supply/">build-to-rent</a> sector commissioned by institutional investors to build market rental blocks as long-term, income-generating assets. This would benefit tenants and the economy, by smoothing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/build-social-and-affordable-housing-to-get-us-off-the-boom-and-bust-roller-coaster-113113">boom-bust cycle</a> of residential construction.</p><p>As we argue in our <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811507793">recent books</a>, a national housing strategy must also thoroughly overhaul national, state and territory tax settings. Many of these have greater housing policy impacts than any spending program.</p><p>Tax reform could make our housing system fairer and more efficient. It could dampen the speculation that fuels rising prices and debt, while raising the revenue we need to provide decent, affordable housing for all Australians.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Author</strong></p><p>Hal Pawson professor of housing research and policy, and sssociate director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW</p><p>Peter Mares lead moderator, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, Monash University</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-lays-bare-5-big-housing-system-flaws-to-be-fixed-137162">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

This crisis has laid bare five major vulnerabilities.

If we realised the true cost of homelessness, we’d fix it overnight

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Australia’s six-month <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/national-cabinet-statement">moratorium on evictions</a> is due to end soon. Some <a href="https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/resources-and-tools/advice-in-a-disaster/coronavirus-covid19-and-your-rights/renting-rules-and-support-during-the-moratorium">states</a> have extended the moratorium, but when it ends that’s likely to force even more Australians into housing insecurity and outright homelessness. </p><p>The moral and health arguments for housing people are clear, but many people are unaware of the financial cost we all bear for not fixing homelessness.</p><p>Social commentator Malcolm Gladwell wrote a piece, Million-Dollar Murray, for <em>The New Yorker</em> in 2006. It’s the story of two Nevada police officers who spent much of their day dealing with homeless people such as six-foot-tall ex-marine and chronic alcoholic Murray. They regularly picked up Murray and drove him to hospital, drying-out clinics, the police lock-up and mental health facilities.</p><p>His bills were so legendary the policemen worked out, based on his health care alone, it would have been cheaper to house him in a hotel with his own private nurse. When not drunk, Murray was a charming, smart, talented chef. By the time he died of intestinal bleeding, they calculated the cost of Murray’s homelessness over a decade was US$1 million.</p><p>Those two Nevada policemen did something that is rarely done anywhere – they calculated (OK, roughly) the cost to the taxpayer of one man’s homelessness. And, in doing so, they showed, as Gladwell pointed out:</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>The kind of money it would take to solve the homeless problem could well be less than the kind of money it took to ignore it.</em></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>No one keeps track of the costs</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>In Australia, despite government efforts to house people during the pandemic, we still see many on the footpath with their bags and begging signs. They are mostly the men. Women <a href="https://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Retiring-into-Poverty-National-Plan-for-Change-Increasing-Housing-Security-for-Older-Women-23-August-2018.pdf">tend to find other ways</a> to manage their homelessness such as couch surfing or staying with adult kids or extended family.</p><p>Beyond the human tragedy, what most passers-by fail to see is the cost of homelessness to us all. It includes the bills for police and ambulance call-outs, prison nights, visits to emergency departments, hospital stays and mental health and drying out clinics.</p><p>These expenses are rarely collated and tabulated to find the true cost of homelessness to the public. The costs are dispersed over so many government agencies and facilities that they are managed in a piecemeal way, as they always have been in Australia. The result is a hefty hit to the public purse.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Financial case for housing the homeless is clear</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>To understand this further, we did a global scoping review of research since 2009 that examined the value of providing a secure, stable home for formerly homeless people and the wider taxpaying community. In total, we examined 100 research papers and analysed outcomes across a range of domains including physical and mental health, emergency department use, substance use, well-being, community integration, mortality, criminal justice interaction, service use and cost-effectiveness.</p><p>The overriding consensus among the 100 peer-reviewed studies and agency reports was that housing stability brought a raft of benefits to formerly homeless individuals. Reducing the cost of non-shelter services also saved the public money.</p><p>Stable housing generally came through a <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/ahuri-briefs/what-is-the-housing-first-model#:%7E:text=The%20Housing%20First%20model%20prescribes,counselling%20or%20mental%20health%20treatment.">Housing First model</a>. The first priority is to find people a safe and permanent home, with no strings attached. Wraparound support services are provided, which are critical in helping them adjust to a new life in a stable and permanent home.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>The savings start with health</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The most researched measure was health. Almost all the research found positive changes when people moved into permanent, secure housing. Almost one-third of the studies looked at the fall in use of hospital wards and emergency services once people were housed.</p><p>As one <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/hospital-collaboration-with-a-housing-first-program-to-improve-he">Australian study</a> found, people sleeping rough are less likely to have their own GP. When symptoms become too severe to ignore they go to hospital emergency wards. They are admitted to hospital more often and stay longer.</p><p>In the 12 months after the 44 clients in this Perth-based study were housed, emergency admissions were reduced by 57 per cent and overnight stays by 53 per cent. The overall health-care saving was A$404,028.</p><p>People’s use of sobering services and mental health clinics also declined once housed. A <a href="https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201400167">Canadian study</a> looked at whether placement in a permanent home was a solution for those with a severe mental illness. With the right supports, the researchers found, these people were largely able to manage their own housing.</p><p>They were able to sleep better. They were more likely to take medications as prescribed. Continuity of care for health problems was better and infection rates were lower. And they experienced less psychological distress, depression and anxiety.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Criminal offending is greatly reduced too</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>All 18 studies looking at criminality reported improvements once people had a stable home. They had fewer nights in jail, arrests and rearrests, and encounters with police.</p><p>A 2013 Californian <a href="https://homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/Greenberg.pdf">study</a> found once people were housed, with appropriate support services, police contacts fell by 99 per cent. Health costs fell by 85 per cent.</p><p>Another two-year <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/resource/national-homechez-soi-final-report">Canadian study </a>of 2,000 people across five cities found, unsurprisingly, a major drop-off in public nuisance offences such as sleeping in public places, urinating in public and washing in public bathrooms.</p><p>All 19 studies measuring cost-effectiveness found housing people produced savings across a broad range of areas – including crisis accommodation, the justice system, sobering clinics and hospitals. Even after deducting the cost of housing, a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049731510387307">2011 Australian study</a> of 268 participants found savings of $2,182 per person after 12 months.</p><p>Our review found a clear economic case for governments to take a systematic approach to ending homelessness. While this argument might be seen as a capitulation to the “financialisation of everything”, the darkening economic cloud of the pandemic might provide just the right cover for government decision-makers to act on the catastrophe of homelessness.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Authors</strong></p><p>Vivienne Skinner, Industry/Professional Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney</p><p>Phillippa Carnemolla, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney</p><p>This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-we-realised-the-true-cost-of-homelessness-wed-fix-it-overnight-143998">Read the original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Australia’s six-month moratorium on evictions is due to end soon.

Family violence, poverty and lack of housing behind rising numbers of homeless families AHURI

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Governments need to release land faster to solve the housing affordability conundrum and support at-risk individuals and families, research body Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute says.</p><p>According to the group’s latest research paper, insufficient affordable housing supply, poverty and lack of access to other services are currently the main drivers for homelessness across the country.</p><p>Census and service use data shows approximately 120,000 people experience homelessness nationally each year, with around 8,200 rough sleepers—the most extreme form of homelessness. </p><p>During the last decade, homelessness has increased by 14 per cent across the country, with rough sleepers growing by 20 per cent.</p><p>AHURI spokesperson Kylie Valentine said homelessness was a by-product of a multitude of factors, including employment and housing markets, personal experiences, and access to available services.</p><p>“The homelessness service system is faced with significant challenges that are driven in part by the complexity of shared responsibilities between federal and state and territory governments,” Valentine said, noting that the response would have to come from the top down to assist those at risk.</p><p>Related: <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/construction-industry-stimulus-coronavirus-planning-social-housing">Social Housing Construction May Lead Covid-19 Recovery</a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/b2531c07-372e-43c2-8f15-d00534cd9854.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ A homeless man sleeps on a park bench in Sydney in March. Image: Getty Images.</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>Australia’s social housing shortfall has been well documented, with research from UNSW City Futures Research Centre suggesting more than one million social and affordable houses are needed during the next 20 years to keep pace.</p><p>The federal government’s recent $688 million <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/home-builder-residential-housing-stimulus-package">Home Builder</a> package has also been put under the spotlight for missing the mark and ignoring accommodation provisions for those with the lowest incomes and the highest needs—the most undersupplied sector of Australian housing.</p><p>Earlier this month, Grattan Institute program director Brendan Coates pointed to the then-Labor government’s GFC-era Social Housing Initiative, under which 19,500 social housing units were built and another 80,000 refurbished over the course of two years, at a cost of $5.2 billion.</p><p>The chief executive of national peak body, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA), Wendy Hayhurst, said the existing National Rental Affordability Scheme represents a type of “social infrastructure” program that was “poorly-designed” and outdated.</p><p>Hayhurst said that under a new four-year, $7.7 billion social house building program devised by CHIA—the Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program (SHARP)—job creation and reduced homelessness could support one another through higher investment in social housing outcomes. </p><p>“SHARP will not just deliver great quality homes to those in need but also secure great jobs for thousands of Australians,” Hayhurst said.</p><p>According to modelling by SGS Economics and Planning, 30,000 homes could be built over the next four years and create around 18,000 full-time-equivalent jobs each year.</p><p>Similarly in April, the CFMEU and Master Builders Australia also suggested a $10 billion social and affordable construction fund to bolster employment and deliver a significant social and economic dividend.</p><p>Housing All Australians, a not-for-profit set up by a former Frasers Property general manager Robert Pradolin to improve access to affordable housing for vulnerable Australians, is also leading the call for corporate interest and investment in the sector.</p><p>Pradolin recently commissioned the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute to assess the long-term social and economic costs of the failure to provide sufficient social and affordable housing. </p><p>The study is funded by a range of corporations including Stockland, ISPT, AV Jennings, Plenary, Assemble, Metricon and Frasers.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Governments need to step up their efforts to release land faster to solve the housing affordability conundrum.

Hotel Rooms Protect Rough Sleepers From Coronavirus

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>People experiencing homelessness will be moved into a hotel as a response to Covid-19, forming a new service program that could be scaled up to support vulnerable people if successful. </p><p>As rough sleepers are unable to self-isolate, and many suffering chronic health issues, the pilot program will see 20 people experiencing homelessness move into Perth&#x27;s Pan Pacific hotel.</p><p>The &quot;Hotels with Heart&quot; pilot is a collaboration across the private, community service and government sectors, aiming to keep homeless people safe and out of hospital during the pandemic.</p><p>“Due to their circumstances, people experiencing homelessness are often unable to take social distancing measures and self-isolate,” Community Services minister Simone McGurk said.</p><p>“It will focus on rapidly housing rough sleepers who are most at risk, to keep them safe and out of hospital.” </p><p>The initiative aims to deliver both health outcomes for the community and economic stimulus to <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/prime-minister-hotel-quarantine-arrivals-coronavirus">the hotel sector</a>.</p><p>Related: <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/prime-minister-hotel-quarantine-arrivals-coronavirus">Prime Minister Orders Hotel Quarantine for Arrivals</a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/c5d3b6b3-c530-4fbe-976e-26662bbdaecf.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ A pilot program will see 20 people experiencing homelessness move into Perth&#x27;s Pan Pacific hotel.</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>The pilot was developed by a taskforce made up of both the  government and non-government sector, and will be delivered in partnership with community service organisations.</p><p>“The Hotels with Heart pilot learns from similar initiatives happening interstate and around the world, including in the United Kingdom, America and Canada,” McGurk said.</p><p>“With the help of community service organisations, this initiative will take the pressure off the health system in Western Australia and potentially help to flatten the curve as the State fights to stop the spread of Covid-19.”</p><p>Recent figures from STR reveal that eight out of 10 hotel rooms are empty due to measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus. </p><p>McGurk said the pilot also aims to sustain the state&#x27;s <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/prime-minister-hotel-quarantine-arrivals-coronavirus">hotel sector</a> for when the Covid‑19 threat is eliminated.</p><p><strong>&#x27;I will survive&#x27;</strong></p><p>In Adelaide, a Kindness Kombi named Benji is driving the South Australian streets with the goal to spread kindness as locals manage Covid-19 restriction and isolation measures.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><iframe sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-pointer-lock allow-same-origin allow-top-navigation allow-presentation" class="embed-responsive-item" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" style="max-width:574px;width:-webkit-fill-available" height="300px" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/thekindnesskombi/videos/211717896837327/"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><iframe sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-pointer-lock allow-same-origin allow-top-navigation allow-presentation" class="embed-responsive-item" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" style="max-width:574px" width="100%" height="300px" src="&lt;iframe src=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fthekindnesskombi%2Fposts%2F3091174854278693&amp;width=500&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;539&quot; style=&quot;border:none;overflow:hidden&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowTransparency=&quot;true&quot; allow=&quot;encrypted-media&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>The couple behind the not-for-profit van, Lea and Keith, started it in 2019, with the belief in inclusion and diversity, using the kombi as a vehicle to spread unity in the community. </p><p>“We want to share life experiences, music, laughter, art, and create a safe space for all,” the couple said. </p><p>“Tonight we put the speaker on the roof of the Kombi, put on the party tunes and watched the world dance,” the couple said as it drove the local streets playing music. </p><p>Playlist songs included, &#x27;Don&#x27;t Stand So Close to Me&#x27; by The Police and &#x27;Staying Alive&#x27; by the Bee Gees.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

People experiencing homelessness will be moved into a hotel in response to COVID-19, forming a new service program that could be scaled up to support 

HOMELESSNESS