Housing Poverty In Australia

  • 485 families served in FY20 485 families served in FY20
  • 465 people served through repairs 465 people served through repairs

Australia has a deficit of more than 600,000 homes.

We help low-income families achieve the dream of building and owning their own safe, secure home. We also assist disadvantaged families through the repair and maintenance program, Brush with Kindness

Brush With Kindness

In Australia, assists disadvantaged families through its repair and maintenance programme, Brush with Kindness. Internationally, HFH Australia works in partnership…

In Australia, assists disadvantaged families through its repair and maintenance programme, Brush with Kindness.

Internationally, HFH Australia works in partnership with communities across the Asia-Pacific region to address housing poverty and to support integrated community development.

HFH Australia is currently working in Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

volunteer australia

The Housing Need

Over 1.5 million Australians are living in housing stress, due to the rising rates in the private rental market and the extreme lack of affordable housing.

According to national statistical data in 2016, there are 116,427 Australians living with homelessness—an increase of 13.7% in the past five years—due to the lack of affordable housing.

Lack Of Funds

The cost of land, materials and construction has continued to rise in Australia, especially in the capital cities and major regional centers.

A 2019 report by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute showed the government needed to build at least 200,000 additional homes over the next 10 years to meet the needs of very low-income households.

How We Alleviate Housing Poverty In Australia

Habitat for Humanity partners with low-income Australian families to build simple, decent and affordable homes. In 25 years, Habitat has…

Habitat for Humanity partners with low-income Australian families to build simple, decent and affordable homes. In 25 years, Habitat has built over 140 homes in Australia and has a current construction rate of around 10 homes a year. This is achieved through:

  • Financial donations from individuals and organisations;
  • Donations of construction materials and land;
  • The utilisation of volunteer labour (skilled and unskilled) in partnership with the local community and through its Affiliate Chapter network.

Volunteers from the community work alongside partner families who contribute their “sweat equity”, or their own labour, in the construction of their homes. This also marks the start of a social support network for the partner families.

In addition to building new homes, the domestic programme renovates existing homes and completes repair and maintenance under Brush with Kindness.

The programme assists the financially disadvantaged, elderly, frail and/or disabled people and serves as a vehicle for engaging corporate sponsor volunteers, in locations close to metropolitan areas.

international volunteer trip laying bricks

Australia Facts

  • Capital: Canberra
  • Population: Over 25.7 million
  • Life expectancy: 83.5 years
  • Unemployment rate: 6.4 percent

New Home Constructions And Developing Holistic Communities

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Families partner with Habitat in the construction of their home. Each partner family receives an interest-free, 20-year loan based on 95 percent of the market value of the completed home. Australia’s international program is designed to address multi-dimensional aspects of poverty, recognizing that adequate housing provides the foundation for lifting families out of poverty. Projects are designed to achieve Habitat’s development objectives including shelter security, community health, economic security, education and community empowerment.

Disaster Response

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In Australia, Habitat for Humanity has run Brush with Kindness programs to help survivors in the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, the Blue Mountains bushfires in New South Wales and the Queensland floods in 2012. In Victoria, Habitat’s development of the Yea Heights Estate has focused on building homes for families affected by the 2009 bushfires, the worst natural disaster in Victoria’s.

Brush With Kindness

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Brush with Kindness is a volunteering program that helps to preserve homeownership. HFH Australia works in partnership with members of the community who are disadvantaged, disabled or elderly and do not have the physical ability, equipment or resources to maintain their own home. Activities range from repairing fences, painting, gardening to mowing lawns.