Homeless services brace for winter as rental stress hits all time high

WITH forty-one per cent of Gold Coast households are experiencing chronic rental stress, homelessness services are bracing for a busy winter. Here are the frightening statistics.

HOMELESSNESS services are bracing for another busy winter as research reveals the Gold Coast has four of the 10 worst electorates for rental stress in Queensland.

A University of NSW analysis for national housing campaign, Everybody’s Home, shows Moncrieff is second only to Hinkler, which tops the list of electorates with the highest rental stress in the state.

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Forty-one per cent of its households are experiencing chronic rental stress, followed by Moncrieff where 40 per cent or 10,638 renters are under stress.

Chronic rental stress could mean renters will be forced on the streets or have to couch surf with friends.

In fifth place is McPherson with 39 per cent of households or 7,181 renters struggling to pay their rent. At Fadden, 39 per cent of households or 8,846 renters are struggling — pushing it in to seventh place — and Forde is in ninth place with 36 per cent of households and 6,784 struggling renters.

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National Everybody’s Home spokeswoman Kate Colvin said the latest data debunked the belief that housing affordability was only an inner-Melbourne or Sydney issue.

“Electorates in southeast Queensland are among the worst for rental stress in the country with 40 per cent of renters struggling with housing they can’t afford,” she said.

Underinvestment in social housing, rising rentals and low wage growth meant low-income and middle-income earners were struggling.

“Drops in temperatures will have very real consequences for people sleeping rough,” she warned.

Local homelessness services agreed and Melissa Hankin, of Vinnies Cornerstone Homelessness Prevention Service, said in the past two years, the scope and breadth of their support for people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness, in the city had risen dramatically.

“The North Queensland flood disaster has had an impact on social housing options here and now more than ever before, it’s critical that we work with people at risk of homelessness to maintain their tenancies,” she said.

People at risk of, or experiencing homelessness, in the city had risen dramatically Photo: Tim Pascoe.

“Since our last Vinnies CEO Sleepout on the Gold Coast in June last year, Cornerstone has provided 163 people with housing support and 34 per cent of them were living in inappropriate or inadequate housing conditions.”

Ms Hankin said Cornerstone had provided a total of 860 hours of one-on-one support to people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness.

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“Twenty-five per cent of those we assisted were living in, or sleeping rough, in the Southport Labrador area and 29 people helped by Cornerstone in the past year were aged between 55 and 65.”

Sandy Sneddon, of Helping the Homeless, warned the Coast had been cold and damp over the past few weeks, and she had seen a significant spike in the number of requests for warm clothing and bedding.

The cost of living and housing affordability is on the rise.

Mal Kennedy, Set Free Care Services, has seen the same trend and said she was concerned about both long-term and short-term homelessness.

”There are people who suddenly find themselves out on the streets because they’ve lost their jobs, run into a health crisis or can’t afford rent — and have been evicted from their homes,” she said.

“Sudden homelessness shocks people to the core. They don’t know where to turn to for support and can quickly experience a decline in mental health.”

Meanwhile, Liz Fritz, of the Gold Coast Homelessness Network, called on locals to support its 12th annual Homeless Connect appeal this month (June) by volunteering or donating clothing, toiletries and non-perishable food items.

“Last year, Homeless Connect supported more than 1700 homeless people on the Gold Coast, providing them with food, clothing, haircuts, access to community housing providers like Horizon Housing, as well as legal services,” she said.