Actual and projected new social housing commencements, Australia, 2007 - 2023-24

[infogram id="_/y8W1Lx3LydCJqqVj7fyu" prefix="yQ4" format="interactive" title="Figure 6.3"] The projected annual rate of social housing construction 2021-22 – 2023-24 represents almost a threefold increase over the pre-pandemic benchmark rate (7,750 versus 2,610).

Projected social housing commencements 2021-22 – 2023-24, and projected net change in social housing provision

[infogram id="_/GDU8H3Nem83a4rOG7nPU" prefix="Nje" format="interactive" title="Figure 6.5"] Despite the significant increase in overall social housing construction anticipated over the next three years, the resulting net change in provision will be inadequate to prevent a further reduction in the sector’s share of all housing, Australia-wide. According to our projections this will decline from 4.22% to 4.14% of estimated total dwelling stock over the period.

Rent relief expenditures, 2020

[infogram id="_/4oYNUmplg9LOx6jYsOWI" prefix="0OE" format="interactive" title="Figure 4.2"] The available evidence is patchy but indicates that many of the rent relief schemes were significantly undersubscribed compared to original estimated costs. The NSW land tax scheme paid rebates on just 4,800 residential properties – equivalent to 0.6% of private tenancies in New South Wales. The total expended on residential rebates was $10m: less than five per cent of originally estimated expenditure (while $86m was expended on rebates for commercial properties: 40% of the original estimate) (NSW Parliament, 2021). Victoria, with its long 2020 lockdown, made cash payments to 33,640 applicants – equivalent to about 5% of Victorian private tenancies – totalling $73m (91% of the original estimated expenditure); however, its total land tax rebate expenditure was $111m, much less than the $400m originally estimated. After a significant underspend in the WA scheme, its terms were changed to pay…

Temporary residents’ and international students’ experiences in the COVID emergency, 2020

During 2020, a significant group of temporary residents remained in Australia but excluded from the main means of absorbing the economic shock of the early emergency, and were protected primarily by the eviction moratoriums, rent variations and rent relief schemes. [infogram id="_/O35LN786neG7ZyAqvY6h" prefix="uCN" format="interactive" title="Table 4.3"] Contemporary surveys of temporary residents and international students show high rates of significant hardship experienced by these groups during the 2020 emergency, as shown in this table.

Sole parents and unemployed face poverty as nation surges ahead

The income gap between people without paid work and sole parents, and the broader community is widening, according to a new study tracking income support over two decades. Australian Income Support Since 2000: Those Left Behind, will be launched today by the ACOSS/UNSW Sydney Poverty and Inequality Partnership to mark Anti-Poverty Week. The report notes median household incomes have grown 45% since June 2000 with Age and Disability Support Pensions almost keeping pace. “People receiving unemployment and single parent income support payments have been badly cast adrift,” said Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO of ACOSS. “Those doing it toughest have been held further behind, making it that much harder to look after their health and families, as well as participate in the workforce. “Apart from the brief period when the Coronavirus supplement was paid, the performance of the income support system during this period of robust economic growth has left whole groups of people further and further…

Last year we backed you, this year you’re on your own: COVID’s scorched economic path revealed

New research by the ACOSS/UNSW Sydney Poverty and Inequality Partnership reveals the deepest, most enduring economic damage of the COVID pandemic has been felt in lower income areas, like outer north-west and south-east Melbourne, west and south-west Sydney, northern Adelaide, far North Queensland and regions between Brisbane and the NSW border. These areas are also impacted by cuts to economic supports in 2021. The Report shows that, between September 2019 and October 2020, people needing to rely on income support, who became eligible for the Coronavirus Supplement, increased by a dramatic 70%, peaking in the 2020 First Wave of the Pandemic. The Coronavirus Supplement was a vital additional payment supporting this dramatic rise in people hit by unemployment. The Report also shows that, following the Second Wave, by September 2021, the overall number of people on these income support base payments due to unemployment is still much higher than prePandemic, by a full 27%. Yet, the vast…

Mental health conditions by weekly equivalised household income

[infogram id="_/jRvHCtq6TGSe4X14K84P" prefix="9Vi" format="interactive" title="MBC by income"] Those with lower weekly household incomes report higher levels of mental health conditions.

Heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis by main income source

[infogram id="_/wtbsgLuNV5qSOlWHk9kx" prefix="WbC" format="interactive" title="Chronic conditions 1_heart+diabetes, arthritis by income source"] Those receiving government pensions/allowances and aged under 65 reported higher levels of heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis than those whose main income was wages or salary.  

Heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis by SEIFA

[infogram id="_/gSZZO9tnuaw2sVa8EkI8" prefix="KTY" format="interactive" title="Chronic conditions 1_heart+diabetes_ arthritis by SEIFA"] Those within lower socio economic indexes for areas reported higher levels of Heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis than those in higher socio economic indexes for areas (SEIFA). To find out more about SEIFA, go to https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/seifa  

Heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis and diabetes by labour force status group

[infogram id="_/YUaSf21iH9bpAPo5bMS0" prefix="sp8" format="interactive" title="Copy: Chronic conditions 1_asthma + heart + diabetes_by LFS"] Those not in the labour force, aged either above or below 65, report higher levels of heart, stroke and vascular diseases, diabetes and arthritis than those working part or full time.