Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are hiding their background from landlords
In fear of their applications being put at the “bottom of the pile,” some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are choosing to conceal their backgrounds so they can find a home.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are hiding their heritage in rental applications amid fears their background could be putting them at the “bottom of the pile”.
It comes as Census data reveals the number of Indigenous Victorians experiencing homelessness has surged past 1000 for the first time in decades.
Jane Yettica, an Aboriginal person and renter, is terrified about what will happen when their lease comes to an end.
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“There’s no doubt that Aboriginal people face barriers at every stage of the rental process,” they said.
“I am cautious about identifying myself as Aboriginal on the rental application.”
While based in Queensland, the Indigenous engagement consultant said with hundreds of applications being submitted for a single property, other First Nations people around the country feared belonging to any kind of minority group like being queer or Aboriginal could potentially put their application at the “bottom of the pile”.
“In terms of the real estate industry, it feels like we’re still having to hide our identities, hide who we truly are and hear of discrimination,” they said.
Housing groups working with Victoria’s Indigenous population also have concerns landlords are turning First Nations people away from private rental homes at a time when insufficient social housing is forcing them onto the streets in greater numbers than the rest of the community.
Aboriginal Housing Victoria chief executive Darren Smith said the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community was 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than any other group in the state.
“The ongoing escalation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness crisis in Victoria compared to other jurisdictions is a result of a rapid and fast-growing Aboriginal population, continuing Aboriginal disadvantage coupled with the absence of growth in social housing supply in Victoria,” Mr Smith said.
“We have been locked out of home ownership, experience persistent discrimination in the private rental market and the long waiting lists for social housing mean many of our community end up homeless.
“There are currently over 3000 Aboriginal households with priority applications on the social housing waiting list.”
The number of Victorians identifying as of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin doubled from 30,143 in 2006 to about 66,000 in 2021 and now represent 1 per cent of the state’s population.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report revealed 1109 Indigenous Victorians were recorded as homeless in 2021 Census data.
It’s the first time in at least 21 years the number has topped 1000.
Four years prior the number was 783, while in 2006 it was just 639.
The state has one of Australia’s lowest numbers of first nation’s people experiencing homelessness, with only Tasmania and Canberra reporting smaller figures.
However it had the second biggest increase since 2006 at 470.
Only NSW has had a larger increase, rising by 623 people to 2508 across the 17 years covered by the report.
As of the last Census, 30,660 Victorians were homeless, with the national figure for homelessness totalling to 112,494.
Mr Smith said the Federal Government response to Aboriginal housing and homelessness had primarily focused on the overcrowding in remote areas, leaving behind Aboriginal Victorians who lived in urban and regional areas.
“Approximately 80 per cent of Australia’s First Nations people live in urban and regional areas,” he said.
“We need a national Aboriginal housing and homelessness plan which recognises that Aboriginal homelessness is culturally distinct and exists in urban, regional, and remote areas.”
Aboriginal Community Housing Ltd’s national manager Stacey Broadbent said it was extremely hard for Aboriginal people to even get into the private rental.
“Some people may not want an Aboriginal person living in their home and that puts up a massive roadblock for Aboriginal people to even enter into the private market,” Ms Broadbent said.
“What we see and we hear every single day from our people and the way in which they are treated … it’s not just concerning, it’s upsetting and it’s sad.”
Ms Broadbent said from a social housing and public housing perspective there just weren’t enough homes available to house Aboriginal people right now.
“We’ve still got a significant homelessness issue in Victoria, directly related to First Nations people,” she said
Community Housing Ltd is in the process of building 1000 housing units with 10 per cent of the properties aside for Aboriginal people.
The Victorian Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Framework has also called on the state government to build 5,000 additional social housing units for Aboriginal people and aim to reduce rates of homelessness by 10 per cent a year, compounding, for the next decade.
Non-profit organisation YWCA Australia recently partnered with Homes Victoria to develop social housing in Mooroopna, north Victoria, with plans to deliver nine new homes and ensure at least one is specifically for Aboriginal women or Aboriginal women-led families.
YWCA Australia chief executive Michelle Phillips said a minimum of 10 per cent of all their social housing projects nationally were dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“They are disproportionately impacted with homelessness and they can also face discrimination in the private rental market,” Ms Phillips said.
“That’s why the stable, low-cost social housing YWCA Australia is providing via the
Mooroopna Women’s Housing Project is vital, particularly in regional areas that typically
have limited housing and low vacancy rates.”
The Mooroopna Women’s Housing Project is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024 and YWCA Australia has also received funding to build housing in Baranduda, West Wodonga, and in East Bendigo.
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