An ageing population is caught in a perfect storm of rising house prices and rents, falling home ownership rates, mortgage debt carried into retirement, insecure rentals and a lack of social housing.
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Articles on Homelessness
Displaying 21 - 40 of 286 articles
The last time an Australian government made housing the homeless a priority was 15 years ago. The Albanese government’s promised plan is a second chance to get it right by drawing on models that work.
People on the general waiting list can wait a decade to be housed. Even those on the priority list may wait years. Asked how the wait affects them, their responses reveal devastating impacts.
Without state investment, strategic consideration and political support, the lessons learned since the start of the pandemic on the importance to society of a place to call home will be lost.
By 2050, 13.3 million people in Bangladesh could be displaced by the climate crisis. For them to be safe, the government needs to do more than build buildings.
To address chronic homelessness, the federal government needs to include funding for longer-term supportive housing in its National Housing Strategy.
People struggling with homelessness often have limited control over their belongings and face the constant risk of being separated from their possessions.
The strategy’s core mission should be to ensure everyone in Australia has adequate housing. That requires 950,000 social and affordable rental dwellings to be built by 2041, dwarfing current targets.
There is an alarming lack of disaster preparedness plans in Canada that consider the unique risks and needs of unhoused people during wildfires.
While technology can be a useful tool, it can also divert funding and attention from the root causes of the social welfare issues it aims to address.
The challenging realities surrounding end-of-life care are especially difficult for older people experiencing homelessness, who have more barriers to accessing hospice care.
Local councils lack the means to tackle homelessness, but are often closest to the people at risk. A national plan should recognise and resource the role councils can play in preventing homelessness.
People’s physical and mental health suffers – all while trying to hold down a job or getting their kids to school.
I met Father Bob Maguire as a young filmmaker in 1990. The words he spoke to me then still reverberate today.
Andrea Magalhaes hasn’t demanded vengeance since her son was murdered — she’s called for expanding the social safety net to address the root causes of crime. Public officials should listen to her.
In any given town, community and neighbourhood there will be homeless children, sometimes as young as 10, who are surviving without the effective care and protection of parents or guardians.
Brisbane rents are up nearly 50% more than the national average and homelessness in Queensland is increasing at the fastest rate in the country. The state can take several steps to turn things around.
Three bills to go before parliament confirm the Albanese government is restoring the Commonwealth to a leadership role on housing issues. But there are still gaps in its approach.
New York City’s plan has garnered the most attention – and criticism – but several cities are expanding their own intervention programs.
Current discussions about ‘homelessness’ have echoes of the past treatment of vagrants. New historical research tells us more about the lives of people during periods of social and economic hardship.
Top contributors
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Professor, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, University of South Australia
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Reader in Social Policy, Nottingham Trent University
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Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology
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Alan Morris is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Housing and Social Inclusion, Nottingham Trent University
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Associate Professor, Geography and Urban Studies, Western Sydney University
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Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Gonski Institute for Education, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor in Housing and Communities, University of Tasmania
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Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, RMIT University
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Adjunct Lecturer at the Centre for Justice, Queensland University of Technology
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Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute
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Honorary Fellow in Criminology, The University of Melbourne
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Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, University of Memphis
