A portrait a day............From the intimate portraits’ series of local personalities in Canberra. This is Danny. He has had a rough time coping with life and as a result ended up living on the streets of Canberra. He is just surviving.
The 2024 Report on Government Services (RoGS) by the Productivity Commission has revealed that homelessness remains a significant issue in the ACT.
According to the report, 2407 individuals experienced homelessness for at least a month in the previous year, with 1082 people in Canberra facing persistent homelessness. Shockingly, 11.5% of clients returned to homelessness after securing housing, and 1 in 4 people (686 out of 2781 clients) did not have their accommodation needs met in the ACT during this period.
The rising cost of living is affecting lower-income families, with a growing number struggling to afford housing. The RoGS indicates that the proportion of lower-income families accessing community housing and spending a large portion of their income on rent has risen.
The percentage of households in community housing spending more than 30% of their income on rent increased from 4.6% in 2022 to 10.2% in 2023. Similarly, those spending between a quarter and a third of their income on rent saw a significant rise from 3.4% in 2022 to 13.8% in 2023.
Despite efforts, the average rate of homelessness in Australia remains high, at nearly 50 people per 10,000. In the ACT, this rate stands at 39 people per 10,000, showing no improvement from the 2016 rate of 40 per 10,000. The need for action in our city remains urgent.
To paraphrase St. Vincent De Paul from an article stating that
These numbers tell us there's such a big need for help from community groups. Last year, the number of calls to their emergency helpline shot up. In December, they had 40% more calls for help compared to before. Most of these calls were from people who needed a place to stay so they wouldn't become homeless, and for food."
So, my question is ‘what is the ACT government doing to help these people?’
