Full-time work no longer enough to keep more than 4,400 Victorians safely housed
29.10.26
| Record inflation and rents have led to the number of working homeless in Victoria surging by 42 per cent in just four years, with more than 4,400 full-time workers receiving homelessness assistance in the last year alone, according to new analysis by Council to Homeless Persons which also found the crisis is spreading to Melbourne’s once affordable outer suburbs. Employed people now constitute 13 per cent of all homelessness service users statewide, according to CHP’s 2026 Employed & At Risk report. Increases are being driven by surging working homelessness in Melbourne’s Growth Corridor, communities once considered as affordable alternatives to the city. In growth corridor LGAs, working homelessness increased more than 58 per cent over the past 4 years. Working homelessness has risen 134 per cent in Wyndham, 112 per cent in Ballarat, 110 per cent in Hume, 72 per cent in Melton and 70 per cent in Whittlesea over four years. Women continue to bear the greatest burden, with almost 10,000 employed receiving homelessness assistance last year and accounting for 73 per cent of all employed people receiving support. Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale said employment was no longer the safeguard against homelessness it once was. “Almost daily we learn more about the battle to make ends meet. Whether it’s filling your car or the inflated price of essentials in your trolley, people are swimming against a furious tide, with more and more working people slipping into crisis. With a full-time job comes an expectation that you should be able to provide for yourself and your family but for almost 4,500 Victorians that is no longer the case,” Ms Di Natale said. “Women are grossly over represented in these numbers and make up more than 73 per cent of all employed people receiving homelessness support last year. They earn less money than their male counterparts and are also the most exposed to family violence. With rents on the march, what little financial buffer many have left is being stripped away.” Casey recorded the highest number of employed people receiving homelessness assistance last year with 698 clients, followed by Wyndham, Greater Geelong, Greater Bendigo and Ballarat. Ms Di Natale said the report’s findings make it even more important that the Government’s recent election commitment to publicly fund construction of 25,000 homes for first home buyers be revised to also include public housing. “When our housing crisis is so extreme that 14,000 Victorians still need homelessness assistance despite having jobs, then we need to be taking every opportunity to create more social housing. We urge the government to ensure this transformational project helps all Victorians, by making at least ten per cent of these 25,000 new homes public housing. It just makes sense that publicly funded housing must include public housing. “Having a job should mean having a realistic chance of keeping a home. For thousands of Victorians, that basic bargain is breaking down and the time to step in and stop it deteriorating any further is now.” The report recommends expanding Victoria’s rental protection programs to help people deal with rental arrears before they lose their homes, alongside a commitment to build 80,000 additional public and community housing homes over the next decade. MEDIA: Eliot Barham 0423 921 200 or Matt Coughlan 0400 561 480 |