Australians skipping meals and eating out of bins to afford housing

The Salvation Army says it is seeing an unprecedented number of people seeking help, with one mother describing her heartbreak over the housing crisis.

More Australians are eating out of bins and skipping meals to be able to afford housing, with one struggling mother revealing she barely eats one meal per day.

“I go without a majority of the time. I’d barely eat one meal a day,” Ann told A Current Affair.

She said her oven and cooktop were electric.

“I have now switched to a camping stove, so I just buy the gas bottles so that I don’t have to pay so much in electricity,” she said.

Ann, a single mother with four children who lives in western Sydney, said she received a single-parent payment from Centrelink, but it was not enough.

Single mother of four Ann said rising living costs were hitting her family hard. Picture: A Current Affair/ Nine

“I can’t have the luxuries of a television and my kids sit on bean bags because I don’t have a lounge,” she said.

“I don’t have airconditioning or a heater in my house at all.”

Ann said it was upsetting for her children to see her not eating and said the children would try and give her their food.

“That’s heartbreaking for me, because I know that they’re not full,” she said.

The Salvation Army says it is facing an unprecedented number of people seeking help due to rising inflation, interest rate hikes and the growing housing crisis.

“We’re having people come who have actually got jobs who are saying we need help with our utility bills because our mortgages are so high at the moment,” Major Kylie Collinson said.

“It’s unprecedented the number of people who are coming through our centres.”

A recent Salvos survey found 94 per cent of people were struggling to afford housing, groceries, medical care and utilities.

Another 63 per cent reported skipping meals, while one in four people were eating expired food and one in 20 were eating from rubbish bins.