The Morrison Government cannot continue to ignore the homelessness and housing affordability crisis gripping the country, the Member for Blair, Shayne Neumann, said.

With Homelessness Week 2019 taking place August 4-10, Scott Morrison must outline his plans to address the 116,000 Australians who are homeless on any given night.

On Census night in 2016, more than 116,000 of our fellow Australians were homeless – an increase of more than 13 per cent in the period since the 2011 Census. In the seat of Blair in Queensland the 2016 Census revealed 522 people were experiencing homelessness.

The number of older women and young people experiencing homelessness continues to rise across every state of Australia.

Mr Neumann said the recent comments by the newly appointed Morrison Government Minister for Homelessness, Luke Howarth, showed the Government’s failure to comprehend the profound impact homelessness has on the lives of everyday Australian people.

“Housing affordability is just getting worse and it is widening intergenerational inequality,” Mr Neumann said.

“The more unaffordable housing is, the more likely those at the bottom of the market fall into housing stress and homelessness. 

“If the Morrison Government put half the effort into housing and homelessness that it does trying to diminish the rights of working people, Australia would be a much fairer and more egalitarian place to live,” Mr Neumann said.