“The Productivity Commission’s report is a wake-up call for all levels of government. We cannot afford to let Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness continue to rise. The governments must prioritise and implement the necessary measures to address this crisis.”
Why is there more homeless today, per capita, but fewer squatters? Fifty years on, Wendy Bacon looks back on the landmark protests of Victoria Street, Kings Cross.
Fifty years ago this week, hundreds of people gathered in Victoria Street, Kings Cross, to support a group of squatters who had been evicted by truckloads of Kings Cross bouncers hired by a property developer Frank Theeman.
Source: The battle for Victoria Street, Kings Cross – fifty years on – Michael West
This is a social fact and not “wokeism”
It’s clear, even to harbourside mansion dwellers, that there’s an accommodation crisis right around Australia. Not a shortfall, not a “blip”, a bloody crisis!
Source: Creative ways to solve Australia’s homelessness crisis
Josh Frydenberg brags about the employment figures he’s achieved for Australia. What he calls employment however is for is for an increasing number of people barely survival.
When Garry Wallis clocks off from work as a carer he doesn’t drive home. He parks in a suburban car park in Wollongong in the NSW Illawarra region where he sets up for the night. “I am nearly 60 and I have prostate problems, so a toilet is really important for me,” he says. “The toilet near here gets locked at 7 o’clock at night and doesn’t open again until seven [in the morning] so you sort of have to hold it until then.” It’s the small things that get to him since he started sleeping rough, like not being able to do his washing or use a bathroom overnight. man in front of van Garry Wallis says the pay from his work as a carer isn’t enough to afford a home in Wollongong.(ABC Illawarra: Tim Fernandez) But the $500 a week he earns as a full-time carer isn’t enough to cover the rapidly rising cost of renting a home. “At the moment I’m homeless because I only get the carer’s allowance,” he says. “It is not enough to rent and eat at the same time.”
Source: Rising rents across regional NSW fuels homelessness and worker shortages – ABC News
Rates of homelessness are rising alarmingly, particularly among Australians aged 65 to 74. The government offered them nothing in the budget, in defiance of the Aged Care Royal Commission recommendations. Jeff Fiedler reports.
Source: More will be Given: home owners rewarded in budget as homelessness continues to surge – Michael West
The number of employed Australians seeking help for homelessness has jumped by almost 30% in three years, sparking concerns that stagnant wage growth and high housing costs are pushing workers to the brink.
The Victorian-based Council to Homeless Persons has released an analysis showing 20,302 employed Australians sought homelessness support in 2016-17, well up from 15,931 in 2013-14.
via Cost of living pushing Australian workers into homelessness | Australia news | The Guardian
The story of Luis Gongora, shot dead by police this week, reflects city’s twin crises and raises alarming questions about the official and witness accounts of the shooting
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