THE St Vincent de Paul Society has released a damning report on the rental housing market in Australia, claiming thousands of families were on the edge of homelessness each week and living in dangerous accommodation.
The report, Don’t Dream It’s Over, details the housing stress in the private rental market and how it affects Australians.
“We believe it’s time to address shortage of low-income housing head-on – by constructing more of it,” St Vincent de Paul Society chief executive officer Dr John Falzon said in the report.
“That’s why this report calls for a serious increase in government direct investment in public and social housing for low-income families.”
The report said in the past 12 months the St Vincent de Paul Society and other services for homeless people had to turn away half those seeking immediate accommodation.
“The pressure on our homeless services has never been greater. And one of the chief causes is the parlous state of the private rental market,” Dr Falzon said.
“In fact, nearly 50 per cent of people coming into homeless services across Australia are private renters in trouble.”
Dr Falzon said thousands of other families were on the edge of homelessness, soldiering on in inappropriate accommodation that is sometimes cold, crowded and far from family, friends, work, transport and schools.
The report highlighted cases of families who illustrated how the property boom, coupled with the neglect of public housing, was forcing working families to pay sometimes almost 90 per cent of their weekly family income in rent.
Dr Falzon said the report showed private renters comprised only a fifth of all households, but well over half of all households in housing stress—with a third of those in housing crisis.
“That’s 345,000 Australian households,” he said.
