‘It’s not living’: Commission report reveals human toll of housing crisis

Currently, 122,000 people are homeless in Australia on any given night, while 640,000 households are in need of social housing but cannot get it.

Professor Nicole Gurran, a commissioner and housing expert from the University of Sydney, stated: “Those who took part in the People’s Commission came from all walks of life – from professional women unable to retire due to housing insecurity to young people unable to access the rental market, or people with a disability unable to find a suitable home.”

“The evidence they provided is an indictment on decades of failed housing policy, government inaction and buck-passing,” she said.

Of the 1,528 respondents, 45 per cent had avoided the doctor or other essential medical appointments in order to pay their rent or mortgage, while 32 per cent had skipped meals.

For tenants who managed to secure housing, an absence of minimum rental standards resulted in poor living conditions for many.

Victoria, a renter who testified during session six of the commission hearings, stated: “The highest temperature this property gets in the winter is 10 degrees.”

“We do everything we can to avoid the mould that is occurring. There are termites. You cannot walk on the floorboards without them creaking,” Victoria testified.

Migrants to Australia, especially those on temporary visas, were acutely vulnerable to poor living conditions, with many being exploited by landlords or employers due to their visa status.

“When I started living in Australia, I found this share flat in the city … we were in total seven people in that space, it was three bedrooms, plus the balcony which was converted into a bedroom,” stated Valentina, a recent migrant, during session seven of the hearings.

Other students on temporary visas manage housing needs by “sleeping in shifts”, with three to four people sharing one room.

With waiting lists for social housing over 10 years, many struggling renters – especially older women – are unable to access stable housing.

“I spent last winter, one of the coldest on record, in a unit with a leaking roof, mould and fungi growing in my bedroom, and without a working heater,” said Pauline, an older woman who testified in a submission. “I have been on the priority over 55 housing waiting list since 2016.”

To address the housing crisis, the People’s Commission advocated for eight recommendations, including building 750,000 new social homes over the next 20 years, or 15 per cent of new housing supply.

Other recommendations included establishing protections against unfair rent increases, enacting minimum rental standards, incrementally reducing the capital gains tax discount over a 10-year period, and phasing out negative gearing.

“An overreliance on the private market has not and will not deliver the magnitude of affordable, secure housing that Australia needs,” said Professor Gurran.

“Australia once had affordable, decent homes. Our governments built social housing from the ground up in the post-war years.”

“It is time to again recognise that homes are the foundation for social and economic wellbeing, like healthcare or education, and go back to treating housing as essential nation building infrastructure that facilitates a good society,” she said, speaking with former parliamentary secretary for housing and homelessness, Doug Cameron.

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