While large numbers of people continue to be pushed out, or pushed to breaking point, in our tight, unaffordable rental market, there has not been the funding increase needed to support frontline organisations, writes SACOSS CEO Dr Catherine Earl.

Imagine, at the age of 72, losing your uninsured home to floods.

Faced with dwindling life savings, you make the desperate decision to move from New South Wales to Adelaide.

With Adelaide’s extremely tight market, you have little prospect of finding an affordable rental and are unable to secure a rental property. Your health breaks down and you end up in hospital.

Ultimately, thanks to the intervention of a homelessness service provider, you are provided with emergency accommodation. It is far from being a permanent or ideal solution, but it is a step in the right direction.

As we mark National Homelessness Week, stories like that of Robert* told to us by the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons illustrate the incredibly complex and vital work our homelessness services provide.

Unfortunately, it is an essential service struggling to cope with substantial demand from a base of decreased funding.

According to recent data, over 18,700 South Australians were receiving support from homelessness services in the 23-24 financial year. More than half (53 per cent) of........

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