One of the first pieces of work HMAG undertook was a detailed housing needs survey project across the Bellingen and Nambucca Shires. Its findings highlighted the growing housing precarity for single women over 55 and the need for a greater diversity of housing stock. This directly influenced our subsequent work program, culminating in our ongoing advocacy for the RFBI’s affordable housing initiative for single women over 55.
Fast forward to 2022-23 and we’ve experienced a combination of bushfires, floods, storms, COVID-19 and the dramatic escalation of housing costs, resulting in a ‘perfect storm’ that’s placed significant stress on a wide range of households in the Bellingen Shire. We knew that housing stress and insecurity were escalating but in order to develop a detailed insight into the issues and impacts, we embarked on an updated housing needs mapping project to inform our broader work program.
The findings from our updated Needs Mapping Survey paints a grim picture. The numbers and stories are genuinely jaw dropping, with local average rents increasing by 55% over 12 months. The consequences for local households are huge, especially younger families, with big impacts on mental health & wellbeing, cutting back on essentials like healthcare and groceries, & drastically increased reliance on food banks. We also found flow-on impacts on the local economy, with local businesses struggling to retain and/or hire new staff due to the lack of affordable/ available homes. You can download the full presentation here.
We wanted to thank these households for trusting us with their stories and helping us to understand what needs to change to address their unmet housing needs.
Similarly to 2018, their experience is directly informing our work to establish a Community Land Trust in the Bellingen Shire, because we believe this model is an important response to this pressing issue.
