Wesley Mission Report Show Homeless Rates Up Due To Limited Access To Rentals
Today more Australian families are facing the prospect of homelessness as the number of available rental properties and different forms of public housing continue to decline. This may be the troubling reality revealed in the findings of a report released on May 3 by the Wesley Mission.
Other data from the report suggest that those families add up to almost a quarter of the total homeless population currently spread throughout Australia. However, there are some facts that may more realistically place the figures to around a third of the total group.
The main culprit in this sorry business may be the state of the rental markets in various states. At this point, access to rental properties has been severely limited due to much tighter restrictions imposed by rental ownership as well as the actions of real estate agents who engaged in opportunistic practices such as rental auctions. These nefarious transactions resulted in many of these agents walking away with a larger share of the profits while leaving many of their fellow Australians out of luck.
The Reverend Keith Garner, CEO of the Wesley Mission, has talked about the conditions in Sydney, He said that the low volume of available rentals when combined with prices that have increased by as much as 10 to 20% per year have made virtually impossible for many new renters to enter the markets. The situation does not look to improve any time soon.
Garner was disturbed by the Wesley Mission report's findings. There will be larger numbers of families out on the streets in the coming months and years. They will occupy the any available spaces they can. So many of the homeless were young people and they include a high percentage of battered women who have fled abusive spouses with their children.
If this situation was bad enough, further data is showing that more homeless people were migrating to the larger metropolitan areas surrounding the capital cities from the rural regions and parts of the interior. These people are desperate for places to live and the higher potential for jobs available in cities like Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne.
The Wesley Mission's PA manager Graeme Cole commented on the lack of available housing for rural families and how a single setback such as the main worker in the home losing their job can unravel everything.
In many cases, the jobs many of these people are searching for simply cannot be found in the same vicinities that available rental housing is currently located. It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that is playing out all over Australia.
The Wesley report also showed that the newly homeless may be dealing with more difficulties because they lacked the relevant information and available support options. There was no standard method for addressing their concerns or to provide the necessary assistance they need to get back on track.
Long-term concerns about the affect these conditions were having on the children of homeless families were also discussed. Depending on how the parents reacted to their circumstances the potential for children to repeat the mistakes of their parents was much higher. According to some specialists, only a direct and prompt campaign of intervention would be sufficient to undo the damage. The report include a survey that showed many of the homeless adult had, in fact, been homeless as children.
The combination of factors that comprised a significant portion of the homeless adults in the report included a history of homeless in the past, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as domestic violence. The last issue was also show to be a very common reason for current homelessness.
Other data from the report suggest that those families add up to almost a quarter of the total homeless population currently spread throughout Australia. However, there are some facts that may more realistically place the figures to around a third of the total group.
The main culprit in this sorry business may be the state of the rental markets in various states. At this point, access to rental properties has been severely limited due to much tighter restrictions imposed by rental ownership as well as the actions of real estate agents who engaged in opportunistic practices such as rental auctions. These nefarious transactions resulted in many of these agents walking away with a larger share of the profits while leaving many of their fellow Australians out of luck.
The Reverend Keith Garner, CEO of the Wesley Mission, has talked about the conditions in Sydney, He said that the low volume of available rentals when combined with prices that have increased by as much as 10 to 20% per year have made virtually impossible for many new renters to enter the markets. The situation does not look to improve any time soon.
Garner was disturbed by the Wesley Mission report's findings. There will be larger numbers of families out on the streets in the coming months and years. They will occupy the any available spaces they can. So many of the homeless were young people and they include a high percentage of battered women who have fled abusive spouses with their children.
If this situation was bad enough, further data is showing that more homeless people were migrating to the larger metropolitan areas surrounding the capital cities from the rural regions and parts of the interior. These people are desperate for places to live and the higher potential for jobs available in cities like Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne.
The Wesley Mission's PA manager Graeme Cole commented on the lack of available housing for rural families and how a single setback such as the main worker in the home losing their job can unravel everything.
In many cases, the jobs many of these people are searching for simply cannot be found in the same vicinities that available rental housing is currently located. It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that is playing out all over Australia.
The Wesley report also showed that the newly homeless may be dealing with more difficulties because they lacked the relevant information and available support options. There was no standard method for addressing their concerns or to provide the necessary assistance they need to get back on track.
Long-term concerns about the affect these conditions were having on the children of homeless families were also discussed. Depending on how the parents reacted to their circumstances the potential for children to repeat the mistakes of their parents was much higher. According to some specialists, only a direct and prompt campaign of intervention would be sufficient to undo the damage. The report include a survey that showed many of the homeless adult had, in fact, been homeless as children.
The combination of factors that comprised a significant portion of the homeless adults in the report included a history of homeless in the past, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as domestic violence. The last issue was also show to be a very common reason for current homelessness.