The SMH argues that the homeless statistics are a serious reproach and they tell us that our current efforts are not good enough.
Shelter has a fundamental place in the hierarchy of human needs: it comes in just after air, water and food - a basic necessity. In some societies, people are left without shelter, without a home. How a society deals with its most vulnerable members shows its true quality and character.
We have been told for so long that housing is unaffordable that it no longer surprises us. Yet it should. The theory of markets suggests that things cannot become unaffordable: if buyers cannot afford something, sellers will lower their price to make a sale. That doesn't happen in real estate. Buyers - and that includes people looking for a home to rent, or renters looking to buy a first home - go away empty-handed.
In failing to operate rationally, the real estate market fails society itself. For our society to function adequately, people in lower paid jobs have to be able to live near their work. As things stand, that is increasingly impossible.
Advocates for the homeless concede that there will always be some who sleep rough. All those things are true. But the homeless statistics are a serious reproach. They tell us that our current efforts are not good enough.
