Homelessness hits the middle classes
Over 13,000 more people called the City of Sydney’s Homelessness hotline in the past 12 months than in the previous 12 months, evidence of a growing housing affordability crisis in Sydney.
The 66,610 calls was a record for the 25 years the Homeless Person’s Information Centre (HPIC) has operated.
Non-payment of rent was recorded as the primary reason for calls due to housing stress during this period, with a total 4,016 calls. Landlords selling property was also noticeably higher than the previous year, along with clients losing their dwellings due to termination of lease.
But Pastor Graham Long from the Wayside Chapel says calls to the Wayside had increased only by about 100 per month, only a small percentage of the total. That’s because so many Wayside clients couldn’t afford housing in the first place.
“Wayside is at the bottom of the cliff and most of the stress is being felt about half way down. The number of families who are living with relatives and friends in the suburbs would be difficult to quantify but that is where the real cost of this financial crisis is to be found,” he said.
“People often ask me how people who visit Wayside are coping in these bad times but the truth is that almost none of them have ever heard that there were good times. The ‘good times’ never filtered down to people who were living on the streets or the mentally ill or the young runaways.”
Alongside its Homelessness Strategy, the City recently publicly exhibited a Draft Affordable Rental Housing Strategy, which includes actions to achieve the goal set out in the Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision of 7.5% of City housing being social housing, and 7.5% being affordable rental housing delivered by ‘not-for-profit’ or other providers by 2030.
The HPIC provides professional assessments and referrals for clients seeking accommodation and support services within NSW. During the 2008/09 period, HPIC referred clients to 138 crisis accommodation providers across NSW.
The Homeless Persons Information Centre can be contacted toll-free on 1800 234 566.
