Briefs

Across the categories of homelessness, rough sleeping often receives the most most media attention due to its public and confronting nature. Sleeping rough is defined by the ABS as living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out. As a category of homelessness, it recorded the second largest increase in the 2016 Census (after people in severely overcrowded housing).

Looking at the categories of homelessness in NSW from 2011–16, we find the largest increase of 72.4 per cent was for those living in 'severely' crowded dwellings, from 9,655 people in 2011 to 16,821—an increase of 7,166. The ABS defines a severely overcrowded home as needing four or more extra bedrooms to house the occupants of the dwelling.

In the context of Australia’s ageing population and increasingly unaffordable housing, government policies assume older householders would be best to downsize into smaller homes as this would make more efficient use of Australia’s housing stock and improve housing affordability issues.

One aspect of the growing awareness in the community of the terrible costs and impacts of domestic and family violence is its impact on homelessness.

With unaffordable housing being a growing issue of concern for Australians, a potential solution to increasing the supply of rental housing is the ‘Build to rent’ development route.