Australians in jobs seek help from homeless charities amid soaring rents

There are warnings the housing situation in Australia is the “worst” that has ever been seen and more than “band aid” solutions are needed.

Four in 10 people who accessed the services of one of Australia’s best known homeless charities in the past three years had a job but were unable to afford skyrocketing rents, an alarming new report has revealed.

The Mission Australia report also found that the number of people living in tents, cars, improvised homes or sleeping rough doubled in the past three years to 640.

The charity organisation said it was also providing help to people who had never interacted with their service before including families with children, those who are employed full time and older women.

It showed there had been a 26 per cent increase in demand for Mission Australia’s homelessness services over the past three years, with 7378 people seeking help between January 2020 and December last year alone.

People sleeping in cars and tents in Enmore Park, Sydney. Picture: John Grainger

It also saw a 50 per cent jump in the number people – with more than 3500 Aussies – who were seeking help after they’ve become homeless rather than when they were at risk.

The findings come as more people are being turned away from homelessness services across the country, mainly because there was no accommodation available with on average, 300 requests for help shut down every day.

Mission Australia’s CEO Sharon Callister said its frontline staff are seeing an influx of people seeking help from its homelessness services and they were telling it the housing situation is the “worst they’ve ever seen it”.

“Australia needs to be doing so much more to be on the front foot to prevent and end homelessness in our country, instead of band-aid crisis solutions,” she added.

Mission Australia CEO Sharon Callister. Picture: Supplied

Efforts to find long-term housing for people once they become homeless are severely constrained by the lack of affordable housing available right across the country, according to Mission Australia, which along with other services was only able to find a secure long-term home for a third of people experiencing homelessness.

Half were supported into short-term or emergency housing due to the lack of long-term housing.

The number of people experiencing homelessness has jumped by 5.2 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

People sleeping in cars and tents in Enmore Park, Sydney. Picture: John Grainger

Mission Australia is calling on governments for greater investment in homelessness prevention and support services and for investment in one million new social and affordable homes.

“Without a significant boost of social and affordable housing across the country, homelessness cannot be eradicated. Mission Australia is calling on governments for greater investment to build the one million new social and affordable homes that will be needed over the next 20 years to ensure that everyone who seeks help is connected to a safe place to call home,” said Ms Callister.

“We also need far more investment in homelessness services, particularly those focused on prevention, and to extend the length of service contracts.”

Ms Callister also supports the $10 billion housing Australia future fund., which is currently stuck in the Senate, as a start towards building affordable homes.