Homelessness Australia has launched an ambitious plan to solve the housing crisis in Australia.

The plan would halve the number of residents experiencing rental stress within five years and end it in 10 years.

It would also halve the number of people repeatedly turning to homeless services for help.

They are calling on state and federal governments to invest in 50,000 homes a year.

This would include investing 25,000 affordable rental properties every year for low-income earners, and another 25,000 social housing properties.

The chairperson of the advocacy group Homelessness Australia, Jenny Smith, said homelessness could be over within a decade.

"There is the opportunity for the federal government to tap into institutional investors like superannuation funds," she said.

"Our superannuation funds invest in social housing in other countries but the settings for them to do so in Australia haven't been there to date."

The proposal prioritises ending homelessness for Indigenous people and for women and children, who are over-represented among the 116,000 Australians homeless every night.

"The biggest driver of homelessness in our community is women and children escaping family violence and a choice between violence and staying with it or escaping that violence into poverty," Ms Smith said.

Homelessness Australia is calling on the federal government to increase the annual $1.3 billion allocated to the states for housing, and tie it to delivering the plan.

Ms Smith said it would ultimately save money, given homelessness is estimated to cost at least $670 million a year.

In a statement, Minister for Housing and Homelessness Julie Collins reaffirmed the government's commitment to its own National Housing and Homelessness Plan, which includes acute crisis housing for domestic violence victims and support for Indigenous housing and veterans.

The government's key promise is a $10 billion housing fund, delivering 30,000 social and affordable homes within five years — significantly less than the plan announced by Homelessness Australia.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-01/plan-to-solve-housing-crisis/101287662