Australian families go without food for housing

MORE low income families across Australia are going without food to meet their housing costs, a leading academic says.

MORE low income families across Australia are going without food to meet their housing costs, a leading academic says.

Andrew Beer, who will head up a new centre to address homelessness and imbalances in the housing market, said the number of people sleeping rough was also increasing.

"In South Australia alone, we anticipate about 10,000 housing evictions this year,'' Professor Beer said.

"Homelessness right across the board is increasing, particularly among young people and older women.

"One in every 200 people in Australia is living without safe, secure, affordable and appropriate housing and as many as 16,000 people are sleeping rough every night in this country.''

The Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning is due to be opened at the University of Adelaide tomorrow.

It will bring together researchers, academics and other practitioners to assist some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia.

Prof Beer said people affected with disabilities, indigenous Australians, people living in remote areas and also those people impacted by industry restructuring would be the centre's focus.

"The prospect of owning a house is slipping out of reach for many Australians, with the poorest needing a staggering 27 times their income to purchase a median price house in this country,'' he said.

Meanwhile, new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, released on Monday, shows that over the past year to September, the cost of living for employees rose by 3.9 per cent.

The ABS analytical cost-of-living indexes also included a cost-of-living index for pensioners, which increased by 4.1 per cent, and self-funded retirees, which rose by 3.8 per cent.

This compares with the latest consumer price index, released in October, which showed annual inflation at 3.5 per cent in the September quarter.

Separately, a National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre study shows the oldest and poorest Australians are being hardest hit by the rising cost of living.

It says rising energy, food and health costs disproportionately affect older and less well-off people in the community.