National Agreement supports States’ focus on homelessness

All states and territories have now provided their annual Statements of Assurance as required under the Australian Government’s $1.6 billion National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, giving community an indication of how each jurisdiction is addressing homelessness.

The statements show states and territories spent $5.5 billion on housing and homelessness in 2018–19, with $1.2 billion spent on addressing homelessness and $4.3 billion on improving social housing outcomes.

The Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services, the Hon Luke Howarth MP, said the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement reporting improves visibility of homelessness expenditure.

“Homelessness doesn’t always exist only in sleeping rough. Over 90 per cent of people experiencing homelessness are in severely crowded accommodation, supported accommodation for the homeless, boarding houses or couch surfing and don’t have a safe and secure place to call home” Assistant Minister Howarth said.

“Even if someone has a roof over their head, they can still be homeless. It might be they are living in very poor conditions or somewhere that’s not suitable for them or their family” Assistant Minister Howarth said.

“The Australian Government will continue to look for ways to reduce the number of people who are experiencing homelessness, and we will continue to work closely with the states and territories” Assistant Minister Howarth said.

The Statements of Assurance are available on the Federal Financial website.