Catherine, 30, and her dog sleep on the streets of Baramar. (photo by the Daily Telegraph)
Homeless people in West Sydney are growing faster than in the CBD region, and experts worry that rising costs of living are turning street sleepers into increasingly common urban problems.
According to a new analysis of census data, the number of homeless people in West Sydney increased 67 percent between 2011 and 2016, reaching as many as 5850, the Daily Telegraph reported. In the city district of Canterbury-Bankstown alone, there were 2582 sleepers, up 86 percent, and Fife's (Fairfield) rose 61 percent to 2226.
Notably, Sydney's CBD population grew by 51% over the same period.
Experts blame the surge in homelessness on the deterioration of housing affordability in the West Sydney area. Data compiled by (UNSW) of the University of New South Wales for the "House for all" (Everybody's Home) campaign also showed that four of the five districts with the worst rental crisis across Australia were in West Sydney, with Fuller (Fowler), in Sydney's southwest district, at the top of the list. As many as 44% of the 18612 rental households in the district have trouble paying their bills.
Kovan (Kate Colvin), a spokeswoman for the people's House, said West Sydney accounted for a fairly high proportion of population growth in Sydney, and demand for housing increased accordingly.
The data show that housing affordability is no longer the inner urban phenomenon faced by millennials. In fact, there are more tenants in traditionally affordable West Sydney, New York rural areas and southeastern Kunzhou, which are more difficult than the rest of the country. "
After sleeping in her car for months, 30-year-old Catherine (Kathryn) said she was suffering from pain all over her body. The 30-year-old mother said that although she had never thought that she would one day be homeless, she had to live a homeless life last year because she could not find a rented house.
Catherine stayed at a motel with her 13-year-old daughter, but moved out because she found it unsafe. Now she gave her daughter to her parents, and she took her car as her home in Bharama.
Hughes (Digby Hughes), acting chief executive of the new state homeless association (Homelessness NSW), said the increase in homeless people in west Sydney demonstrated the need to take action across the state to increase housing affordability, and "the biggest factor is the lack of affordable housing." And a rise in rents in the private rental market. "