The biggest issues facing Melbourne households

Cost of living, housing affordability and homelessness identified as the biggest issues facing Melbourne households

 
A recent survey of 1,000 Melburnians has found cost of living, housing affordability and homelessness are considered the top three issues facing Melbourne right now.

The research, conducted by homelessness organisation Launch Housing, also revealed over 90 percent of Melburnians agree we should be doing more to end homelessness and 80 percent believe if we work together, we can end homelessness in our city.

Launch Housing Chief Executive, Bevan Warner said the findings demonstrated the broad and significant impact cost of living and housing pressures are currently having on Melbourne households.
“As more households across our city struggle to afford a home and cost of living pressures continue to squeeze household budgets, the need for more social and affordable housing has never been more apparent,” Mr Warner said.

Last financial year, Launch Housing supported 15,000 Melburnians with housing and specialist services, including rental support to help prevent nearly 3,500 households from being pushed into homelessness. This was a 29 percent increase in rental support compared with the previous year.

“The people we currently support with rent assistance are paying, on average, 42 percent of their income on rent. Anything above 30 percent is considered rent stress.”

“An increase in income support payments and more social and affordable housing is desperately needed to address household poverty and prevent people from being pushed into homelessness,” Mr Warner said.

These pressures are all too familiar for Liz Farrell who was struggling to afford a new home after being evicted from her rental earlier this year.

Juggling life as a single mother with a 12-year-old son who has a serious heart condition means Liz can only work part-time to provide care and support to her son who attends part-time school.
When it came to finding the new rental, the costs associated with moving were outside of the budget for Liz, leaving her with limited options.

“There was no way I could have arranged bond, rent and moving costs. In my situation, I would have needed around $8,000 to cover the move and the first few months’ rent,” Liz explained.

“Without Launch Housing I don’t know what we would have done.”

Liz says she’s not the only one feeling the pressure, with many managing the constant juggle of paying bills, rent and putting food on the table, with very little to spare at the end of a week.

“It’s near impossible to meet our needs right now. We have reached out to support services to keep us afloat,” Liz said. “As a single mum, I rely on Pantry 5000 and St Vincent de Paul to help us out.”

“We have nothing to spare financially. Love is abundant, but sometimes that feels in short supply when trying to shelter a child from the realities of this world we are living in.”

The research conducted by Vibrant Insights for Launch Housing surveyed the views of over 1,000 Melburnians over 18 years of age in metropolitan Melbourne.