How Albanese's 1.2million housing policy failure and record immigration has created a new category of Aussies with nowhere to go

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Australia's housing emergency is now so dire nurses are living in cars while thousands of mothers and their children are sleeping rough or crammed into crisis accommodation with no path out.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to fix the housing crisis but Australia today is home to some of the most expensive real estate in the world, with near record low rentals available and the worst levels of homelessness in living memory.
Recent data by Homelessness Australia reveals the number of people accessing their services each month has grown by 10 per cent since the Albanese government came into power in May 2022. The situation is even more dire for women and girls, with an increase of 14 per cent.
But while women and children go without a roof over their heads, immigration is booming, which experts say is putting unprecedented strain on the local property market.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show in the year to May, 1.1million permanent and long-term arrivals hit Australian shores, including international students and skilled workers.
In cities soaking up the bulk of the arrivals like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and increasingly Brisbane, the competition for rentals is fierce, sending rents and house prices soaring.
Australian Population Research Institute president Bob Birrell blamed the housing crisis on record overseas migration, which meant working Australians were being pushed out of the market, unable to buy or rent.
'The Albanese government is completely irresponsible on this issue,' he said.
Freelancer CEO Matt Barrie (pictured) said the Great Australian dream of home ownership is out of reach for many now and he places the blame on record migration
'They have neglected it ever since they got back into power in 2022, they've just let immigration rip.
'We've had enormous levels of migrants, which is just unprecedented, and irresponsible in the context of the housing crisis.'
Dr Birrell said part of the problem is the skilled migration program recruits hardly any tradespeople, especially for the beleaguered building industry.
'Migration is not adding to the supply of those important trades at all,' he said.
'Although a lot of temporary migrants who are adrift in Melbourne and Sydney would probably like to take up an apprenticeship in these areas, they can't, because they're temporaries.'
Freelancer CEO Matt Barrie said the Albanese government had created a system so perverse doctors were living in share houses and nurses were sleeping in their cars.
'The Great Australian Dream is now mathematically impossible for the average Australian,' he said.
'In Sydney it now takes 46 years just to save a house deposit. Think about that, for a child born in Sydney today, their retirement party will come before they've saved enough for a house deposit.'
Mr Barrie said the housing crisis had been 'engineered' by the government which has flooded the country with the largest immigration wave in history.
'Why, in a cost of living crisis, would they allow nearly one million international student enrolments?
'Why, in a cost of living crisis, would they allow 2.46million people on temporary visas into a country of 27million when there's only 36,000 rental vacancies?'
Refuge workers and frontline services are also sounding the alarm on the crisis which is leaving women and children behind.
As politicians returned to Canberra for the first sitting week of the new term, Everybody's Home spokeswoman Maiy Azize said the Albanese government has a chance to deliver a lasting legacy on housing or risk being remembered for letting it slip away.
It comes after the public release of a written warning to Treasurer Jim Chalmers that the Albanese government could not meet its commitment of supplying 1.2million homes by 2029.
'This is a national crisis that is now pricing out everyday people right across the country,' she said.
'The government can't ignore the increasing number of Australians who are sleeping on streets and couches, forgoing food and medicine to pay rent, and living in unsafe and makeshift housing.'
Ms Azize said warnings the government is unlikely to meet its ambitious housing target are further proof that relying on the private market alone won't work.
The organisation said social housing has declined to around 4 per cent of all homes, down from 4.7 per cent in 2013.
'To reach six per cent social housing Australia must build more than 36,000 additional social housing dwellings every year for the next decade,' she said.
'If we want one in ten homes to be social housing, we need to build an extra 54,000 social homes every year for 20 years.
'Whichever way you look at it, the scale dwarfs current government commitments and lays bare both the enormous demand and decades of chronic underinvestment.'
During Question Time on Wednesday, Opposition leader Sussan Ley pushed Mr Albanese on whether he would abandon his failing policies to tackle the housing crisis.
In his defence, Albanese said Labor had 'inherited a decade of neglect' and it would take time to catch up.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson said Australian cities were full, housing is unaffordable, and services are stretched to breaking point.
She said One Nation will cut permanent and temporary migration and restore the population to a level the country can support.
'This isn't extreme. It's common sense,' she said.
'Mass migration must stop. The system is broken. Let's fix it and give our people the chance to thrive.'
For many it is too late.
Shocking new data from Homelessness Australia reveals a record surge in families stuck in temporary refuges, with thousands of mothers and children sleeping rough or crammed into crisis accommodation.
CEO Kate Colvin said one reason for the dramatic deterioration in families and women being pushed further into crisis is rising rents, with Labor's investment in social housing failing to keep pace with demand.
Ms Colvin said many were one health tragedy away from losing a stable roof over their heads.
'It's heartbreaking when you meet people who have cancer and due to the number of hospital visits they attend they can no longer work. They lose their home and end up living in their car because you can't afford rent on income support payments,' she said.
'I've spoken to lots of young people who have been in and out of refuges for years, slept in parks or are couch-surfing with dubious people.
'There's always someone who'll offer a 16-year-old girl a bed but it comes with obligations.'
Ms Colvin said homelessness is increasing for all, but women and girls are copping the brunt of this crisis.
'The Prime Minister talks about leaving no one behind but the harsh reality is that with 45 per cent of women and girls seeking homelessness support having experienced domestic and family violence, more women and girls are returning to violent homes.'
Housing and Homelessness Minister Clare O'Neil said the government has invested more than $1.2billion in crisis and transitional housing.
'We're acutely aware of just how complex the challenge of homelessness is, which is why we continue to listen to people with first-hand knowledge right across the homelessness sector,' she told the ABC.