Top Tweets for #HomelessnessWeek

3 Million Australians at immediate risk of losing their home. Rents rise 51% from 2020 - 2024 Inflation only rose 29% Here's a picture of the scale and drivers of homelessness risk in Australia: **The numbers** On Census night in 2021, over 122,000 Australians were without a home. But the "at risk" figure is far larger — by 2022, an estimated 3 million people were in a position where a single setback like job loss or illness could mean losing their home, up 63% since 2016. [Homelessnessaustralia](https://t.co/55fEOO7zNv) More recently, Salvation Army research from June 2025 found that three in ten Australians under 40 have some level of concern about becoming homeless or losing their home within the next 12 months, and nearly a third of households earning under $100,000 share that fear. [The Salvation Army](https://t.co/P1UyeWetMA) **Why so many are at risk** *Rental stress is the primary driver.* Between March 2020 and June 2024, median advertised weekly rent rose from $413 to $624 — a 51% increase — while general inflation rose only 29% over the same period. Record low rental vacancies compounded the problem. [World Socialist Web Site](https://t.co/RqmIYhh5EA) More than seven in ten people accessing emergency relief services are in housing stress, spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. [The Salvation Army](https://t.co/P1UyeWetMA) *Mortgage stress is also rising.* 37% of renters and 25% of mortgage holders report being behind on their payments, significantly increasing their risk of eviction or repossession. [The Salvation Army](https://t.co/P1UyeWetMA) *The social housing shortage is worsening.* Social housing as a proportion of all housing continues to decline, even as rental stress grows and more people are stuck in it for over two years. [Homelessnessaustralia](https://t.co/YlMKkeMt1S) *Certain groups face disproportionate risk:* - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 8.8 times more likely to experience homelessness than non-Indigenous Australians. [Homelessnessaustralia](https://t.co/55fEOO7zNv) - More older Australians are now affected, as home ownership has declined across all age brackets including retirement age, forcing more retirees into the rental market while dependent on the age pension. [World Socialist Web Site](https://t.co/RqmIYhh5EA) - People from low and middle-income brackets are increasingly represented — full-time employment no longer provides reliable protection from homelessness risk. [World Socialist Web Site](https://t.co/RqmIYhh5EA) *Individual vulnerabilities* — including family and domestic violence, mental illness, disability, and substance misuse — interact with the structural housing shortage to push people over the edge. These personal factors can significantly increase the likelihood of becoming homeless, particularly when they coincide with a lack of affordable housing options. [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare](https://t.co/x1VBjqZ2A8) **Services are overwhelmed** Around 250,000 Australians received specialist homelessness service assistance in 2022–23, but thousands of requests went unmet. During a two-week survey, 39% of services were forced to close their doors to people seeking help, and 83% were unable to answer phone calls at some point. [World Socialist Web Site](https://t.co/RqmIYhh5EA) The bottom line: while around 122,000 are currently homeless in the formal sense, the 3 million "at risk" figure reflects how precarious housing has become for a large slice of the population — one crisis away from losing their home.