Beneath the current political debates about housing demand lies an unavoidable reality. Empty dwellings sit alongside visible and hidden forms of homelessness, with many people attempting to create homes in inhospitable places rather than submit to overbearing regulation and continual intrusions into their personal lives.

The Victorian government has pledged to build hundreds of thousands of new homes over the coming decade in response to Australia’s growing housing crisis. It’s Housing Statement has sparked fierce political debate, with the Liberals accusing Labor of failing to build enough homes and of falling short of its own targets. Yet both sides have missed a more uncomfortable reality.

In Australia around one million dwellings sit unoccupied. At the same time, more than 120,000 people are homeless. The ratio is striking: roughly one to ten. In inner Melbourne, the same pattern appears: in 2023 around 10,000 vacant or underused dwellings, alongside just over 1,000 people recorded as homeless. Again, one to ten.

These figures are conservative. Homelessness is often hidden, taking the form of people sleeping in cars, couch surfing or moving between temporary arrangements. At the same time, many dwellings sit empty or underused in ways that are not fully captured in official data.

This reality reflects a modern understanding of property that a house is not necessarily a home. This distinction is beginning to appear in the language itself. Those without stable accommodation are increasingly described as ‘houseless’ rather than ‘homeless’ in an attempt to separate the absence of shelter from the deeper idea of home.

A person sleeping rough may come to treat a mattress under an overpass or a tent on the edge of a park as a kind of home. These spaces are often arranged carefully in determined attempts to make a harsh environment more liveable. Yet homeless people are often treated as unsightly garbage........

© Pearls and Irritations