Employed women are quickly becoming the face of homelessness in Victoria, with new analysis revealing they account for 70 per cent of employed people seeking homelessness services.
Released on Tuesday, the latest report from the Council to Homeless Persons lays out the precarious situation many employed women are currently facing. It makes one thing clear: having a job does not guarantee you will have a roof over your head.
The analysis also shows women account for 58 per cent of the total number of people, employed or not, seeking assistance from homelessness services in Victoria.
“The highly gendered nature of homelessness among employed people is likely to have implications for child and family homelessness, with more working mums unable to pay the rent in a dual housing and cost of living crisis,” the report says.
As rents increase, the number of employed people who sought support from homelessness services increased in 61 of Victoria’s 80 local government areas.
“This alarming rise in working Victorians seeking homelessness support is a frightening new front in the state’s crippling housing crisis,” said Deborah Di Natale, CEO of Council to Homeless Persons.
“Not even a job is enough to guarantee a roof over people’s heads. Working women are the face of this crisis. Employed women escaping family violence are often faced with the impossible choice between shelter and abuse.”
Meanwhile, Council to Homeless Persons Deputy CEO, Tom Johnson, told ABC RN Drive that we can look to the reasons like the gender pay gap for why women are disproportionately affected.
“[Women are] the first group severely affected by Victoria’s homelessness crisis, as it enters a whole new level,” Johnson said.
The analysis shows the Casey, Wyndham, Greater Geelong, Greater Bendigo and Greater Dandenong local government areas have experienced the biggest rise in employed people seeking homelessness support.
Council to Homeless Persons is calling on the Victorian government to commit $5.6 million in next month’s budget to grow its Private Rental Assistance Program, remedy rental arrears and put an end to rental evictions.
It also says Victoria needs 6,000 additional social housing properties every year for the next decade.
“With just $5.6 million in next month’s budget, the government could relieve enormous pressure on renters, and reduce welfare, justice and health costs that more homelessness leads to,” Di Natale said.
“Melbourne’s outer suburbs and the state’s regional centres are at the eye of this savage cost-of-living storm.”