Amplify Insights: Housing Affordability and Homelessness

Housing is a human right and is fundamental to people’s current lives and their futures. Where housing is safe, secure, affordable, and appropriate, it gives people security and a sense of belonging and is a strong predictor for many other positive outcomes.

Conversely, homelessness places people at risk of other poor outcomes, including poor physical health, poor mental health, low educational attainment, poor employment outcomes, financial vulnerability, and intergenerational and long-term homelessness.

Homelessness in Australia is an urgent and growing problem.

On any given night, 1 in 200 people are homeless. The total number of people experiencing homelessness grew by 14 per cent between the last two censuses (2011-2016), to over 116,000 people.

The Centre for Social Impact's Amplify Insights: Housing Affordability and Homelessness examines the state of homelessness in Australia, assembles the evidence, from official statistics, academic research, and other publicly available information about the lived experience of homelessness and housing affordability in Australia.

The report aims to build on previous work by bringing together the evidence, amplifying the insights into housing affordability and homelessness challenges in Australia and the range of possibilities available to us to reduce homelessness.

It also puts forward that Australia needs a national housing vision and strategy that has a shared cross-sectoral commitment to create change.

About the Amplify Insights reports

Amplify Insights are a series of in-depth reports into specific social issue areas, seeking to inform, engage, and create social impact by revealing key levers of change.

Insights reports are currently available on housing affordability and homelessness, financial wellbeing and education inequity.