Climate Change, Housing and Homelessness in Australia

The current model of supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Australia needs reform. People experiencing homelessness are the most at risk from natural disasters and climate change. Although natural disasters, such as fires and floods are often a state or national problem, their effects are not evenly distributed. Government policy needs to recognise the need for an equitable distribution of the burdens of disasters that are due to climate change. There needs to be more effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change, especially for people who are homeless or disadvantaged, as they have the least resources and capacity to respond to these events.