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The following is a brief summary of the commitments in the Australian Government’s 2023-24 Budget for homelessness, housing, and modern slavery.

Housing and Homelessness:

The budget lacked any sizeable investment in measures that would markedly reduce the number of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It  did include some investment to increase social and affordable housing, such as:

Other commitments include:

Health care:

Increased support for low income earners:

• An additional $40 per fortnight for people on income support payments, increasing JobSeeker to $52.85 per day (the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee recommended that JobSeeker be urgently increased to at least $76 per day to lift people out of poverty)
• Increase in CRA (Commonwealth Rent Assistance) by 15%, the largest increase for 3 decades, impacting around 1.1million households.
• Expanding Parenting Payment (Single) for primary carers, of which 91% are women, until their youngest child turns 14 (was 8 years of age). More about this important announcement can be found here.
• Increase income support for people over 55 years of age who have been unemployed for more than nine months.

Modern Slavery:

Two very welcome provisions regarding modern slavery were announced in the budget. The Mercy Foundation has joined the sector in calling for both a National Anti-Slavery Commissioner and to provide survivors with a pathway to support that does not require victims to engage with law enforcement, a major barrier for many survivors. The budget provides:

1. $8 million over 4 years from 2023–24 (and $2.0 million per year ongoing) to establish an Anti-Slavery Commissioner to work across Government, industry and civil society, to support compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018, to improve transparency in supply chains and help fight modern slavery in Australia and abroad.
2. $24.3 million over 4 years from 2023–24 (and $5.9 million per year ongoing) to pilot an additional referral pathway for the Support for Trafficked People Program and restructure the program to better meet the needs of victim-survivors, while increasing ongoing funding to address current and projected demand.

Other:

• $11.3 billion to support the Fair Work Commission’s decision to provide an interim increase of 15 % to award wages for many aged care workers. More than 250,000 workers will benefit from the decision
• An additional $589.3 million for women’s safety, which includes supporting implementation of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women  2022-2023.

Read the Budget 2023 – 2024 Overview 

Detailed Budget Measures Paper 2

 

ACOSS and UNSW released their latest report Poverty in Australia 2023: Who is affected?  from their Poverty and Inequality Partnership. This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to identify the groups facing the highest risk of poverty; and the groups of people most likely to be living in poverty.

The report notes that:

On average, in 2019 – 2020,

• 1 in 8 people lived below the poverty line
• 1 in 6 children lived below the poverty line
• COVID lockdowns dramatically increased poverty until June quarter 2020, when COVID income supports greatly reduced poverty.

The poverty line is based on 50% of median household income ranged from $489 per week for a single person to $1,027 per week for a couple with two children.

In total, over 3.3 million people lived in poverty, including 761,000 children.

On average, people in poverty were in households with incomes $304 per week below the poverty line. People relying on Newstart/JobSeeker payments, Parenting Payment, Youth Allowance, Disability Support Pension or Carer Payment were at great risk of poverty.

Women and girls and poverty

Women were more likely to live in households below the poverty line than men (13.9% as against 12.9% for men). The majority of people in poverty (1,754,000 out of 3,320,000 people, or 53%) were women or girls.

1,765,000 households are in poverty where the main income earner was a woman, compared to  1,554,000 people where the main income earner was a man.

COVID Income Supports lifted people out of poverty

During COVID, poverty fell substantially, by 8.4 percentage points or 389,000 people, among people in households that were reliant on social security. This coincided with the $275 per week Coronavirus Supplement which almost doubled many of the lowest payments.

It also fell substantially by 2.2 percentage points or 401,000 people, among people in households mainly reliant on wages, due to the introduction of JobKeeper Payment. Consistent with this, financial stress among households whose main income was from low-paid employment fell substantially in 2020 compared with 2019.

COVID income supports made an enormous difference to households living in poverty.

The solutions to poverty are clear:

• Increase the lowest support payments to at least pension levels to protect families and individuals from poverty when they cannot obtain enough work
• Introduce and improve supplements to cover essential costs including the extra costs of sole parenthood and disability.
• Commit to full employment based on targets which guarantee there are enough jobs and paid working hours overall for people who need them.
• Invest in effective employment services to end the entrenched economic exclusion of people such as those unemployed long-term, First Nations communities, people with disability and older people; and to improve access to decent jobs and careers for people entering or returning to paid work including young people, parents and carers.
• Build more social housing and increase Rent Assistance to improve the supply of secure and affordable homes and help those on the lowest incomes with their largest living expense.

122,494 people were counted as homeless on Census night.

The ABS Statistics on homelessness were released last week. The statistics reveal a marked increase in homelessness for women and girls.

Of the 122,494 people counted as homeless,

• The number of women experiencing homelessness increased by 10.1%, compared to 1.65% for men.
• The number of women aged between 35 – 44 years increased by 19.6% compared to 2016.
• Women accounted for 81.7% of the increase in people experiencing homelessness in 2021.
• The number of women over 55 years counted as homeless increased by 6.6%
• Almost 24% of all people experiencing homelessness were young people
• The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing homelessness increased by 6% to 24,930
• The rate of homelessness per 10,000 was 306.8 for Indigenous people compared to 34.9 for non-Indigenous people
• There was a slight decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness from 50 people per 10,000 to 48 people per 10,000.

Impact of COVID-19

The Census statistics for 2021 are impacted by the measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Across Australia, concerted efforts were made to move people who were sleeping rough or in overcrowded dwellings into safe accommodation.

The consequence is an increase in the number of people living in temporary lodgings (eg hotels or motels) and boarding houses.

In total:

		2011	% change 2006	2016	% change 2011	2021	% change 2016
	People living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out	6,810	-6.1%	8,200	20.4%	7,636	-7%
	People in supported accommodation for the homeless	21,258	22.6%	21,235	-0.1%	24,291	14%
	People staying temporarily with other households	17,374	-1.6%	17,725	2.0%	16,597	-6%
	People living in boarding houses	14,944	-3.3%	17,503	17.1%	22,137	26%
	People in other temporary lodgings	682	36.1%	678	-0.6%	3,934	480%
	People living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings	41,370	31.2%	51,088	23.5%	47,895	-6%
	TOTAL	102,439	14.2%	116,427	13.7%	122,494	5.2%

• Due to efforts to protect people sleeping rough from COVID there was a decline of 7% in people sleeping rough
• There was a reduction in the number of people in overcrowded accommodation and temporarily staying with other households
• During COVID, people were moved into hotels and motels for the first time, as shown by the 480% increase in people living in ‘temporary lodgings.
• The number of people living in overcrowded dwellings is the most common form of homelessness, although this number declined by 6% since the last Census.

Older people experiencing homelessness:

	Age	45–54	% change 2016	55–64	% change 2016	65–74	% change 2016	Over 75	% change 2016
	Male	8,769	-1.7%	6,787	0.5%	3,930	7.4%	1,345	-0.4%
	Female	5,910	10.2%	4,146	5.3%	2,168	8.7%	1,011	7.7%
	Total	14,678	2.8%	10,933	2.3%	6,091	7.8%	2,348	2.6%

• The number of women over 45 years is increasing at a faster rate than men
• All age cohorts of women over 55 years has increased, although the cohort aged 45 – 54 years was the fastest growing at 10.2%.
• There is a marked increase in the number of women aged 45 – 54 years experiencing homelessness, and all age cohorts of women over 45 years of age have increased.
• The total number of women over 45 years increased by 8.2% to 13,235
• The total number of women over 55 years increased by 6.6% to 7,325.

ABS Statistics on homelessness can be found here.

What the 2021 Census data told us about Homelessness – A Brief by AHURI

The NSW Liberal and National Parties have committed to replacing no-grounds evictions with a set of reasonable grounds for terminating periodic leases. No-grounds evictions allow the landlord to evict a tenant during an existing lease or at the end of a fixed-term lease, without giving any reason.  Australia is one of the few OECD countries that allows no-ground evictions. This has resulted in many tenants living in fear of eviction, some putting up with poor living conditions rather than asking for repairs.

Renters and tenant advocacy groups have called for this policy reform for many years. It is recognised as one of the single most important law reforms for renters.

According to REINSW, the vacancy rate in Sydney in January 2023 was just 1.5%.  Vacancies across the state remain extremely tight in rural and regional areas, which means that some tenants are evicted with nowhere to go. Forced eviction is a gross violation of  human rights and governments across Australia, at every level, are responsible for ensuring that it only ever occurs as a last resort and never result in homelessness.

Currently, the commitment does not apply to renters on fixed term leases. The sector is calling for the replacement of no-grounds evictions with a range of specified reasonable grounds, for all types of leases.

 

 

 

 On International Women’s Day 2023, AHURI released a Brief that explores what the housing crisis is costing Australian women. According to the Brief, while there is currently no comprehensive approach to understanding gender and its role in housing, what we do know is sobering:

• women are less likely to own a home to support them in retirement
• older women paying off a mortgage experience higher levels of stress than their male peers, impacting on their health and wellbeing, placing further demands on our health systems
• as housing becomes less affordable, homelessness rates are rising. Older women and women fleeing violence are more vulnerable to homelessness; meaning younger women are over-represented in homelessness numbers and older women are the fastest growing group of homeless.

Increasing the supply of affordable housing with safe, secure tenure is essential to reducing the impacts of the ongoing housing crisis for women, and to creating a foundation for healthy, productive lives for over half our population.

Both older women and women and children escaping foamily and domestic violence should be prioritised for social and affordable housing, designed to meets their specific needs.

Read the brief here.

On 13 February, Immigration Minister the Hon Andrew Giles MP and Minister for Home Affairs the Hon Clare O’Neil MP announced that refugees who have a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) will be able to apply for a permanent Resolution of Status (RoS) visa. This is a greatly welcomed announcement for 20,000 people on temporary visas who have been living in limbo with much anxiety and uncertainty about their future.

Currently, people who have a TPV have to reapply for protection every 3 years and people who have a SHEV must reapply for protection every 5 years.

Once granted a permanent RoS visa, it is possible to:

• live, work and study in Australia permanently
• access benefits from Services Australia and Medicare
• Access short term counselling for torture and trauma
• sponsor eligible family members for permanent residency via the family stream
• if eligible, become an Australian citizen and
• if eligible, attend English language classes for free.

More people in NSW are renting or paying off a mortgage as they reach retirement age. These factors highlight the increasing housing stress and greater risk of homelessness for older people in NSW.

On Monday, 6 February, the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum hosted a research launch with Dr Emma Power. Commissioned by Housing for the Aged Action Group, Emma reported on the latest findings from recently released Census data. The research was developed in conjunction with Curtin University, Western Sydney University and Swinburne University of Technology.

The data reveals that in the last 10 years:

• the proportion of older people who own their own home is in decline (62.1% to 57.8%)
• more older people are paying off mortgages (18.5% to 22.2%)
• fewer people are living in public and community housing (5.1% to 4.4%)

A summary of results is available here: Decades of Decline – NSW Census data insights

In order to address this troubling trend, the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum is calling on the NSW Government to:

• fund a specialist older person’s housing service to prevent and respond to older people’s homelessness and housing needs
• lower the priority age of social housing from 80 years
• build more social and affordable housing.

The Mercy Foundation joined with 24 other organisations to endorse Be Slavery Free’s Submission to the statutory review of the 2018 Modern Slavery Act (Cth). The review makes 11 recommendations to the Act including:

• A review of previous inquiries and reports with a view to implementing recommendations
• The role of an independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner be legislated
• The Act be amended to uphold a duty to prevent modern slavery by enforcing and monitoring reporting aligned to international principles, standards, conventions, and laws, that are appropriate to the size, scale, sector and risk-profile of the reporting entity.
• That resources for the office of the Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade be increased to work with partners in our region to build awareness and help countries strengthen their responses to modern slavery.
• A national compensation scheme is implemented to provide appropriate remedy to people subjected to exploitation through an Australian company’s operations or supply chain.
• The Act enforces penalties for non-compliance, negligence, or falsifying reporting.
• The Act should enforce a ban on importing high-risk products from countries and regions (including Australia) at high-risk of modern slavery.

We thank Be Slavery Free for their leadership and collaboration in preparing the submission. The review can be downloaded here.

 

According to the latest Rental Affordability Index (RAI), all capital cities across Australia experienced a decline in rental affordability in 2022. Low-income renters are most vulnerable and require immediate support.

The annual report is prepared by SGS Economics and Planning, National Shelter, Beyond Bank and Brotherhood of St Laurence. The RAI is a price index for housing rental markets and is a concise indicator of rental affordability relative to household incomes, applied to geographic areas across Australia.

According to Ellen White from SGS Economics and Planning,

“We found that the static or slightly falling rents of the early pandemic were short-lived, with rents now being equal or higher than pre-pandemic, and Hobart still the least affordable city.

The pandemic also saw the existing rental crisis spread to the region, when many households left capital cities. More and more regional households are struggling to pay their rent and key workers are unable to access housing, especially in the regional areas of Queensland, Tasmania, NSW and Western Australia.

This year’s severe floods also significantly impacted affordability in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Lismore is one of the worst affected towns, where affordability declined by 10 per cent between 2021 and 2022. Bellingen was similarly affected, with affordability declining by 14 per cent.”

The report can be downloaded here: Rental Affordability Index November 2022

The NSW State Government is the last state to extend state care to 21 years of age. This is a life-changing reform that will have enormous impacts on the lives of young people who are unable to live with their parents.

Chair of the Home Stretch campaign, Paul McDonald, said:

“It’s fantastic that the NSW Government has decided to get behind this important reform. Extending state care to 21 will be life-changing for young people who have been nervously wondering what will happen when their state care arrangements are terminated on their 18^th birthdays.

As the responsible parent for the largest number of children and young people in care nationally, extending care is the simplest and most effective reform the NSW Government can make to transform the lives of around 1200 young people in foster, kinship and residential care. It’s an exciting moment to be able to look ahead and think about how much difference this simple reform will make to so many young lives in the years to come.”

Home Stretch has been advocating for an increase in support for young people in care to 21 years of age for many years. We congratulate the Home Stretch team for their efforts that has brought about this important reform in all states and territories in Australia.