How many households are facing housing stress?

Nearly a million Australian households could be facing housing stress within 20 years, according to a new report from UNSW City Futures Research Centre.

The study found that 640,000 households are already either homeless, living in overcrowded dwellings or spending more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments, The Australian reported. More than half of those dealing with housing stress are families, despite families representing only 40% of Australian households.

Large cities have the most unmet housing need, with the Gold Coast, Sydney’s inner southwest and Melbourne’s west topping the list for housing stress.

While some cities have made progress combatting unmet housing need since the last census in 2016 – particularly Perth and Adelaide – Sydney’s unmet need has grown at pace with overall housing growth up about 11%, The Australian reported.

In regional areas, single-person households are facing difficulties finding appropriate accommodation, indicating the need for more housing diversity outside the capital cities.

The study comes as housing affordability continues to be a hot-button political issue. The Labor government has pledged $10 billion to build 10,000 new affordable homes before 2030, while matching funding from states and territories is expected to deliver another 10,000.

The funding is part of the new National Housing Accord, which aims to build one million new homes over five years from 2024, The Australian reported.

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The UNSW study, which was commissioned by the Community Housing Industry Association, found that the rate of unmet housing need ranges between 5% and 8% of the population depending on location. On the higher end of that scale are Sydney (7.6) and Brisbane (7.5%).

“Meeting the needs of households over a 20-year period would equate to a 6.5% average annual growth in non-market housing,” the report said. “This averages around 47,000 homes per year over the period.”

Wendy Hayhurst, chief executive of the Community Housing Industry Association, said it “is harder to think of a higher priority than giving all Australians a stable and secure home.”

“The commonwealth has laid important foundations for expanding social and affordable housing and it is reassuring to see them seriously grapple with this challenge, [but] we will need to muster additional investment from all levels of government and superannuation funds to meet this challenge,” she told The Australian.