2020-12-15
Australian Greens Housing spokesperson and Senator for NSW, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to a report by Equity Economics projecting a national 24 per cent rise in housing stress and 9 per cent rise in homelessness next year. NSW will be particularly hard hit with housing stress to rise by 42 per cent and homelessness by 19 per cent.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The alarm bells are well and truly ringing on housing stress and homelessness.
“We need the federal government to declare this a crisis and to look at all policy options to avoid this looming disaster.
“A huge national investment in social housing in the coming years will be required to ensure everyone has a roof over their head. Housing is a human right.
“In the short term, homelessness services will need to be properly funded and there is no way we can let the Jobseeker payment go back to the pre-Covid rate.
“The Covid-19 response has shown us that homelessness is not inevitable. Governments can choose to either tackle or ignore it. It’s our responsibility to make sure everyone has a roof over their head,” she said.