Pictured: StreetSmart community partner, Good Cycles
Homelessness is a Housing Problem
Without housing, ending homelessness is impossible. But still today, there lingers a false narrative around homelessness, one that positions the individual as responsible rather than holding a failing system to account. When someone escapes domestic and family violence, or loses their job, or has a relationship breakdown, it’s easy to look at these situations as causing homelessness. But in fact, it’s the failing of a housing system to provide a safe, affordable place to call home when people experience these stressors that causes, and sadly maintains, homelessness. In Australia, the housing market is set up to provide assets for wealth gemeration, rather than a human right to everyone. In addition, successive governments have divested from housing, resulting in the chronically low levels of social and public housing we have today (some of the lowest in the OECD).
So, fundamentally, homelessness is a housing problem. It is the inevitable outcome of a system without enough housing that is both available and affordable. We see this played out at increasing rates across Australia, in metropolitan suburbs and regional towns. Since COVID, ‘housing affordability stress’, as the main driver of homelessness, has increased by 36%. In the same years, successive Rental Affordability snapshots have shown record breaking lows of availability and affordability across the rental market.
As housing becomes less affordable, more and more people are accessing homelessness and community services, trying to find a solution. Many of those people are in work and increasingly, families are experiencing homelessness, often facing housing instability for the first time in their lives. People are getting knocked back time and time again, as there are no housing options available for support workers to offer. But without housing, ending homelessness is impossible.
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Housing as prevention, and a solution, to homelessness
Photo credit: The Shelter Collective. StreetSmart supported this local volunteer group in Rockhampton to renovate 10 derelict cottages, lying empty, into homes for women over 55 yo.
A home of your own is a fundamental building block that enables people to recover from trauma and other causes of homelessness, build a sense of security and stability, and be able to create the next chapter of their choosing. Imagine trying to get a job without a permanent address, or keep up with school or study without a safe place each night. Try overcoming and illness or trauma, or creating stability for your family while living in a tent. A new report has shown the direct impact of the rental stress crisis on people’s wellbeing, with renters experiencing worsening mental health over the past decade. Without housing, ending homelessness is impossible.
We must do all we can to keep people housed and get people housed, with the right support when needed. The Housing First movement encapsulates an approach that addresses this challenge, advocating that first an individual must have access to housing, before being able to engage in other support systems like health, education, or legal.
StreetSmart's role in ending homelessness through housing
The Team at StreetSmart believe that ending homelessness will take a whole-of-community response and that we all have a part to play. We empower corporates, business, individual supporters and communities to collectively raise awareness and funds to take action. In this way, we scale the impact for those most in need and bring about change for people facing and experiencing homelessness. Join us, and help end homelessness through housing.
During July and August your monthly and once off donations will be directed to our housing responses including:
– providing household essentials like furniture to set people up for tenancy success
– funding operational costs for smaller housing programs
– contributing to the creation and upkeep of accommodation/housing units
– supporting housing/tenancy outreach to prevent people being evicted into homelessness
We work collaboratively, and encourage corporates,businesses,and people to join together for collective action and impact. Please reach out at partners@streetsmartaustralia.org if this sounds like you.
Without housing, ending homelessness is impossible.
