On any given night almost 1900 people are sleeping rough in the Kennedy electorate.
It’s feared the figure isn’t painting the full picture of homelessness though, as a growing number of locals battle housing stress and rising living costs.
Kate Colvin from Everybody’s Home says the organisation is using Homelessness Week to call for greater Federal Government support.
“More than 45 per cent of renters who get Commonwealth rent assistance are in rent stress even after getting that benefit so it clearly needs to be increased,” she says.
Ms Colvin says the main issue people are facing is the unaffordable rental market.
“They can’t get a property because there’s just not enough properties available,” she says.
“At the moment we’ve got really low vacancy rates around the country that means there’s a lot more renters competing for rentals.”
In Townsville alone the rental vacancy rate is just 0.7 per cent.
Image: AAP
