Politicians and welfare organisations are campaigning for a total shakeup of Australia’s housing policies to curb the growing homeless population.

 

Last week The Greens launched their Homes For All campaign in Sydney, which is pushing for housing to be as accessible as education and healthcare.

 

Senator Lee Rhiannon addressed the public forum, and said it was time to shift Australia’s attitude on housing.

 

“It’s one of the great crimes of this country that people are homeless,” Ms Rhiannon said.

 

“The essence of the housing problem is seeing housing as a commodity, rather than as a basic human right,” she said.

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Ms Rhiannon said The Greens want to introduce a universal housing scheme, where the government would provide a home for all those in need.

 

“Housing is so embedded in the marketplace, and a lot of people can’t see how it can be otherwise, but the Queensland Greens costed a program of universal housing and proved it can work.”

 

“We’ve got public education, public health in Medicare, so we need to build housing up in the same way. It is absolutely essential that everybody has a home”.

 

Ms Rhiannon said the current statistics on homelessness were too dire to ignore.

 

The latest ABS data indicated a 27% increase in homelessness in NSW since 2011, and over 116,000 people homeless across Australia.

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Ms Rhiannon said The Greens were also supportive of the Everybody’s Home Campaign, a new alliance of key welfare and housing organisations that is pushing for an overhaul of the ‘broken’ housing system.

 

Kate Colvin, spokesperson for the

Everybody’s Home Campaign, said the

campaign aims to give Australians a

platform to lobby for change.

 

“I think there is a really deep level of

concern in the community about housing

affordability and politicians are just not

listening,” Ms Colvin said.

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“More than 6000 people have already

joined us and the numbers grow each day.”

 

Ms Colvin said the campaign was lobbying

for reform in all areas of the housing market,

such as tax reform, government funding of

affordable housing, and renter rights.

 

Laura Bertholli is a young renter who said the

rental system is failing people not only in

Sydney, but all across the state.

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Originally living in Newcastle, Ms Bertholli is

a hospitality worker who had to move an

hour out of the city to find an affordable

rental.

 

With 21 birds, 8 chickens and 2 ducks in tow,

Ms Bertholli and her housemates found it

impossible to find a rental property within

budget in Newcastle that accepted their

rescued pets.

 

“Rentals keep getting more expensive and

harder to find. It’s unfair that most places don’t

accept pets either, I feel like kids can often do

more damage than pets,” she said.

 

Ms Bertholli said the government should

regulate rental prices, and that renters needed

better protection under the law.

 

She agreed that the attitude towards housing

needed to change.

 

“Everyone deserves somewhere with a roof,

power and water, and safety. I think it should

be considered a basic human right, but I don’t

think the government sees it like that,”

she said.

 

While the Homes For All campaign has only

just launched, Ms Rhiannon said the response

from the public was already positive.

 

“We need to get this conversation going at a

national level. Public outrage is the way to get

all MPs realising its a human right,” she said.

 

“It’s a really big task, but I’m excited we can

spark some outcry.”