Australia is a rich country. We have enough to go around. But the lack of affordable housing and proper income support have created a crisis that has been turbocharged by COVID-19.

Anti-poverty week runs from the 17th to the 23rd of October. This year the focus is on two important solutions for poverty: raising income support above the poverty line and creating more social housing.

Vacancy rates for rental properties are low around the country; meaning there's nowhere for people and families who rent to live. Mission Australia regularly hears heartbreaking stories like a young man with two jobs sleeping in his car or a family with a newborn living in a shed.

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Individuals and families are under financial pressure because they're spending huge amounts of their income keeping a roof over their head. Some have even been pushed into homelessness.

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the Commonwealth government brought in the COVID supplement to JobSeeker and other income support payments. This contributed to an astounding reduction in poverty in Australia, allowing people who relied on income support to afford essentials like food and medicine, but turned out to be a brief reprieve.

The COVID supplement was cut and in the 2021 lockdowns, most people on the lowest income support payments have been denied extra support, leaving them to rely on payments such as the manifestly inadequate $45 a day JobSeeker Payment.

We can help end poverty by creating more affordable housing and lifting income support above the poverty line. The question is whether our nation has the will to make sure every person, every family can afford the essentials they need in life to thrive.

Dr Paul Royce is Mission Australia's Regional Leader for the NT

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