Local community organisation Micah Projects says that the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data confirms a growing and disconcerting trend of Australian families forced to live in inappropriate and sub-standard conditions due to cost-of-living pressures.
According to Karyn Walsh, coordinator of Micah Projects, the latest ABS statistics show that the number of households shared by three or more related or unrelated families has risen by 64% in recent years.
“It’s a national trend,” says Karyn Walsh, “and we’re seeing examples of it more and more frequently in our work here in Brisbane.”
With Anti-Poverty Week happening across Australia October 14 to 20, Karyn Walsh is calling for urgent action to ensure that even more people are not forced into poverty.
“We often help families with young children who have moved back in with their parents, or other family members, because they can’t afford to pay rent in the current market,” says Karyn. “They’re sleeping on floors, living in cars, dealing with severe over-crowding, because they have no other choice.
“Housing affordability and ever-increasing living costs are at crisis levels,” says Karyn, “and it’s having a terrible impact on many Brisbane families who are increasingly at risk of homelessness.”
Change in household income and costs, 2006-2011
Household income +19.53pc
Mortgage +38.46pc
Rent +50pc
Electricity +72.67pc
Utilities + 67.3pc
Water & Sewage +75.94pc
(Comparison 2006 & 2011 ABC Census data, compiled by Lisa Cornish and Jackie Sinnerton of The Herald Sun)
Launch of Family Research Project
Micah Projects, in collaboration with the School of Social Work and Human Services, University of Queensland, have recently completed a detailed research project exploring the subject of family homelessness.
The findings of the report, a study of crisis intervention and planned support for vulnerable families, will be presented by the University of Queensland’s Professor Karen Healey.
Karyn Walsh of Micah Projects will reflect on the implications of the research for policy and practice.
The launch will take place on Friday 26th October at Victoria Park Golf Course.
More info: micahprojects.org.au
