Report: Rising demand for homelessness services highlights urgent need for action

Everybody’s Home is backing calls from the homelessness sector for greater investment in prevention and support services, as well as more social and affordable homes, following a damning new report.

Mission Australia’s report reveals demand is rising for the charity’s homelessness and housing services. Over the past three years the charity has found:

• A 26 per cent increase in demand for its homelessness services
• The number of people sleeping rough, including in tents, has more than doubled
• Increasingly more people who are employed are seeking support because they cannot meet skyrocketing rents
• Only a third of people who were experiencing homelessness moved into a secure long-term home. Half could only be supported into short-term or emergency accommodation due to the severe lack of long-term housing.

Everybody’s Home is calling on the Federal Government to invest in building at least 25,000 social homes every year, for the next 20 years, to meet the massive shortfall. 

The national housing campaign also wants the government to sustainably fund and maintain funding for homelessness services.