On International Women’s Day 2023, AHURI released a Brief that explores what the housing crisis is costing Australian women. According to the Brief, while there is currently no comprehensive approach to understanding gender and its role in housing, what we do know is sobering:
- women are less likely to own a home to support them in retirement
- older women paying off a mortgage experience higher levels of stress than their male peers, impacting on their health and wellbeing, placing further demands on our health systems
- as housing becomes less affordable, homelessness rates are rising. Older women and women fleeing violence are more vulnerable to homelessness; meaning younger women are over-represented in homelessness numbers and older women are the fastest growing group of homeless.
Increasing the supply of affordable housing with safe, secure tenure is essential to reducing the impacts of the ongoing housing crisis for women, and to creating a foundation for healthy, productive lives for over half our population.
Both older women and women and children escaping foamily and domestic violence should be prioritised for social and affordable housing, designed to meets their specific needs.
Read the brief here.
On 13 February, Immigration Minister the Hon Andrew Giles MP and Minister for Home Affairs the Hon Clare O’Neil MP announced that refugees who have a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) will be able to apply for a permanent Resolution of Status (RoS) visa. This is a greatly welcomed announcement for 20,000 people on temporary visas who have been living in limbo with much anxiety and uncertainty about their future.
Currently, people who have a TPV have to reapply for protection every 3 years and people who have a SHEV must reapply for protection every 5 years.
Once granted a permanent RoS visa, it is possible to:
- live, work and study in Australia permanently
- access benefits from Services Australia and Medicare
- Access short term counselling for torture and trauma
- sponsor eligible family members for permanent residency via the family stream
- if eligible, become an Australian citizen and
- if eligible, attend English language classes for free.
More people in NSW are renting or paying off a mortgage as they reach retirement age. These factors highlight the increasing housing stress and greater risk of homelessness for older people in NSW.
On Monday, 6 February, the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum hosted a research launch with Dr Emma Power. Commissioned by Housing for the Aged Action Group, Emma reported on the latest findings from recently released Census data. The research was developed in conjunction with Curtin University, Western Sydney University and Swinburne University of Technology.
The data reveals that in the last 10 years:
- the proportion of older people who own their own home is in decline (62.1% to 57.8%)
- more older people are paying off mortgages (18.5% to 22.2%)
- fewer people are living in public and community housing (5.1% to 4.4%)
A summary of results is available here: Decades of Decline – NSW Census data insights
In order to address this troubling trend, the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum is calling on the NSW Government to:
- fund a specialist older person’s housing service to prevent and respond to older people’s homelessness and housing needs
- lower the priority age of social housing from 80 years
- build more social and affordable housing.
The Mercy Foundation joined with 24 other organisations to endorse Be Slavery Free’s Submission to the statutory review of the 2018 Modern Slavery Act (Cth). The review makes 11 recommendations to the Act including:
- A review of previous inquiries and reports with a view to implementing recommendations
- The role of an independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner be legislated
- The Act be amended to uphold a duty to prevent modern slavery by enforcing and monitoring reporting aligned to international principles, standards, conventions, and laws, that are appropriate to the size, scale, sector and risk-profile of the reporting entity.
- That resources for the office of the Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade be increased to work with partners in our region to build awareness and help countries strengthen their responses to modern slavery.
- A national compensation scheme is implemented to provide appropriate remedy to people subjected to exploitation through an Australian company’s operations or supply chain.
- The Act enforces penalties for non-compliance, negligence, or falsifying reporting.
- The Act should enforce a ban on importing high-risk products from countries and regions (including Australia) at high-risk of modern slavery.
We thank Be Slavery Free for their leadership and collaboration in preparing the submission. The review can be downloaded here.
According to the latest Rental Affordability Index (RAI), all capital cities across Australia experienced a decline in rental affordability in 2022. Low-income renters are most vulnerable and require immediate support.
The annual report is prepared by SGS Economics and Planning, National Shelter, Beyond Bank and Brotherhood of St Laurence. The RAI is a price index for housing rental markets and is a concise indicator of rental affordability relative to household incomes, applied to geographic areas across Australia.
According to Ellen White from SGS Economics and Planning,
“We found that the static or slightly falling rents of the early pandemic were short-lived, with rents now being equal or higher than pre-pandemic, and Hobart still the least affordable city.
The pandemic also saw the existing rental crisis spread to the region, when many households left capital cities. More and more regional households are struggling to pay their rent and key workers are unable to access housing, especially in the regional areas of Queensland, Tasmania, NSW and Western Australia.
This year’s severe floods also significantly impacted affordability in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Lismore is one of the worst affected towns, where affordability declined by 10 per cent between 2021 and 2022. Bellingen was similarly affected, with affordability declining by 14 per cent.”
The report presents the rental affordability outcomes for ten Australian household types.:
– Single person on JobSeeker
– Single pensioner
– Pensioner couple
– Single part-time worker parent on benefits – Single working parent
– Single income couple with children
– Dual income couple with children
– Student sharehouse
– Minimum wage couple
– Hospitality worker.
The report can be downloaded here: Rental Affordability Index November 2022
The NSW State Government is the last state to extend state care to 21 years of age. This is a life-changing reform that will have enormous impacts on the lives of young people who are unable to live with their parents.
Chair of the Home Stretch campaign, Paul McDonald, said:
“It’s fantastic that the NSW Government has decided to get behind this important reform. Extending state care to 21 will be life-changing for young people who have been nervously wondering what will happen when their state care arrangements are terminated on their 18th birthdays.
As the responsible parent for the largest number of children and young people in care nationally, extending care is the simplest and most effective reform the NSW Government can make to transform the lives of around 1200 young people in foster, kinship and residential care. It’s an exciting moment to be able to look ahead and think about how much difference this simple reform will make to so many young lives in the years to come.”
Home Stretch has been advocating for an increase in support for young people in care to 21 years of age for many years. We congratulate the Home Stretch team for their efforts that has brought about this important reform in all states and territories in Australia.
The Productivity Commission’s review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement was released on 30 September. The report examines how well the Australian, State and Territory Governments have achieved the objectives, outcomes and outputs set out in the Agreement, and the suitability of the Agreement for the future.
The Committee described the current agreement as ineffective at providing access to affordable, safe and sustainable housing. It noted that the agreement does not foster collaboration between governments or hold governments to account.
It noted that ” the next intergovernmental Agreement (and the proposed National Housing and Homelessness Plan) is an opportunity for governments to work together on a national reform agenda to make housing more affordable. Rising rents and low vacancy rates are placing private renters under pressure, which increases demand for government-funded housing and homelessness services.
The focus of the next Agreement should be on improving the affordability of the private rental market and the targeting of housing assistance. Improving the capacity of low-income renters to pay for housing and removing constraints on new housing supply are key to making housing more affordable.”
The overview of the report can be accessed here.
⇒ 1st prize: Ava W. from Emmanuel College Warrnambool
⇒ 2nd prize: Anjani M. from Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College
⇒ 3rd prize: Emma K. from Orange High School NSW
The calibre of entries was very high and judging was difficult. We are very grateful to Kyle Tink MP, member for North Sydney, who was a great help with judging. Kylea is passionate about climate change, the subject for this year’s awards.
Another 11 entries were awarded Highly Commended prizes, from the following schools:
- Catherine McAuley College Bendigo VIC
- Emmanuel College Warrnambool VIC
- Farrer Memorial High School Tamworth NSW
- MacKillop College Bathurst NSW
- Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College North Sydney NSW
Read more about the winning entries here.
This brand new report from Anti-Slavery Australia shines light on the contribution that survivors of modern slavery can make to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Australia’s response to modern slavery. This report challenges our current response to modern slavery and offers us the means of developing effective responses, that are led by the guidance and wisdom of survivors. The Mercy Foundation proudly supported this research through our grants program.
Drawing on survivor-authored or informed literature and interviews with survivors, survivor advocates and organisations working with survivors, this report charts the push — led by survivors — to engage with survivors in meaningful, ethical, and trauma-informed ways to improve responses to modern slavery.
This important research recognises that survivors have much to share that goes beyond their story. It recognises and values their expertise and their wisdom. Effective responses to modern slavery will only be developed with the input, guidance and in collaboration with survivors.
We congratulate Frances Simmons and Jennifer Burn for this detailed, valuable and actionable report, and sincerely thank the survivors who generously shared their wisdom and insights.
Beyond Storytelling Research Report
