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As Australia’s first People’s Commission into the Housing Crisis gets underway today, submissions reveal the majority of respondents are in housing stress and forgoing the basics to cope. 

The People’s Commission, convened by Everybody’s Home, received more than 1,500 survey submissions which show:

• Three in five (58%) respondents are in housing stress 
• Three in four (76%) of those who rent are in housing stress 
• The top ways respondents are coping with housing costs are by reducing energy use like heating or cooling their homes (52%), avoiding the doctor and essential appointments (45%), and reducing vehicle use (39%)
• One in three are skipping meals (32%), or relying on credit cards or buy now pay later (31%).  
• Uncertainty about the future (67%) and increased housing costs (61%) are the top reasons for concern about the housing crisis.

Dozens of organisations have also lodged submissions to the People’s Commission.

Statement from Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize on the federal Budget:

“The federal government has delivered a Budget that will keep pushing up housing costs for Australians who are already battling a brutal housing market.

“There is no new funding for social housing. What the government has announced is a business as usual spend that is nowhere near enough to shift the dial on the housing crisis.

“The government’s ‘new’ funding for social housing is a repackaging of existing initiatives, offering loans instead of providing real funding, and the continuation of a funding agreement with the states and territories – something the Commonwealth routinely renews for other essential services like education and health.

“An increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance will provide some short-term relief, but it’s not a lasting fix. It isn’t enough to keep up with rising rents, and it doesn’t go to all of the people who need it.

“If the government was serious about tackling this crisis, it would build more social housing to end the massive shortfall. These are the rentals people can actually afford. A target for the private sector will only deliver more of the same – homes that are way too expensive for average people. 

“Any Budget that seriously tackles the housing crisis would also stop using unfair tax handouts to prop up landlords and investors, pushing up the cost of housing for everyone else. The Treasurer ruled out making those changes well ahead of Budget day.

Everybody’s Home has urged the federal government to increase its social housing target and back it up with funding in next week’s Budget if it’s serious about easing the crisis.

Right now, just three percent of homes that the government wants Australia to build over the next five years are set to be social housing.

As the government confronts warnings it will fail to meet its 1.2 million housing target, Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said building more social housing was essential.

“If the government is serious about making housing affordable, it must step up and build social housing,” Azize said.

“It’s clear that the private market can’t meet the government’s target, and their track record shows us that these homes won’t be affordable for most people. Social housing is guaranteed to be affordable for people – and at scale, it pushes down the cost of housing for everyone.

“The government describes its national housing target as ambitious, but it’s lacking ambition when it comes to bringing down the cost of housing. Only three percent of their target will be social housing.

“There is no use building homes that people can’t afford. The government must end the social housing shortfall – and aim for 10 percent of all homes in Australia to be social housing.

“We need a Budget that matches the scale of this crisis. Housing in Australia has never been so unaffordable and unfair. Without a huge increase in social housing, it will only get worse.”

Everybody’s Home is urging the federal government to boost social housing in its upcoming Budget, as a new report paints a dire picture of rental affordability across the country. 

Anglicare’s Rental Affordability Snapshot lays bare a harsh reality: affordable rentals are almost non-existent for those on income support, and scarce for full-time minimum wage earners. 

The report also shows increases to rental supply in parts of the country hasn’t made renting more affordable.  

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Jennifer Kirkaldy said more social housing is key to easing the housing crisis.

“Every year the Rental Affordability Snapshot serves as a sobering reminder: the housing crisis deepens the longer that the government fails to act,” Ms Kirkaldy said.