Housing as health care

[Dimity]

Some say housing should be recognised as a human right.

Here's a radical proposal: make secure affordable housing a healthcare item, and count the mental healthcare savings.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/15/homelessness-is-a-driver-of-poor-health-in-aus...

[Cuddlebear]

@Dimity  Hello how are you? I am so glad you posted this. I read it yesterday and agreed with what the writer was saying. I completely agree too that housing is a human right. This rubbish Big Build is going to take 10 years and not enough places being built nor the types of homes and suburbs people need them in. The Government needs to literally be buying properties. 

I am about to become homeless. Owner wants their family to move into the private rental I am in and I’ve had no luck getting anything. I’m blind and deaf and have an amputation on left foot. I also have complex PTSD, anxiety and chronic depression. I’m a mess at the moment trying so hard to have somewhere to live and every place I’ve reached out to is overwhelmed by people needing help so there’s not much actual help. Every inspection I go to has well over 30 other people looking. I’ve got very little chance of getting a new rental and I’m on the priority public/community housing waiting list. My mental health is totally rubbish. 

I read yesterday thwt the rental crisis in Victoria is really bad. There’s hardly any affordable rentals and a lot more people needing them than there are rentals to go around. 

Im literally going to be on the street with my seeing guide dog. It’s terrifying. 

[Dimity]

I deeply sympathise @Cuddlebear . In fact I thought of you when I made the post. 

I also thought of @chibam .

[Cuddlebear]

@Dimity @chibam Thank you I really appreciate that you understand. It’s just so rough and the article brings forward an excellent idea. I can certainly say that housing insecurity does affect mental health and other aspects of health too. 

Successive governments have created this monster of a problem but unfortunately it is poor people paying the price. 😞 

[Dimity]

@Cuddlebear I trust you're also reaching out to charities for crisis accommodation   and that your low vision service provider is aware of your situation. 

I'm personally troubled by some aspects of the Big Build too. And there's an ongoing disconnect between state and federal policies re social and public housing.  

[Shaz51]

 that the rental crisis is everywhere @Dimity , @Cuddlebear 

soo sorry @Cuddlebear to hear that my friend 

it is bad that there is no help around , and sad 

[Appleblossom]

Good article @Dimity thanks 

@Cuddlebear I do hope some public housing options with viable rent and situation become available soon.  I can imagine the anxiety. I don’t know if you are regional or urban or if that matters to you. Have you approached Anglicare? Surely something can be done! Keep reaching out and taking care of yourself and your dog.

@Shaz51 sista!

[Till23]

Hi @Dimity thanks for posting this article

Such an important issue.

There is plenty of data to show that sub-optimal MH and homelessness is are associated (although association is not causation).

However, regardless of whether one causes the other, the fact is that they are linked. Homelessness certainly impacts MH to a huge degree.

When I have been homeless (very short term) I certainly felt anxious and depressed.

To have secure housing must impact MH.

I currently volunteer in a kind of soup kitchen, most of our guests are homeless and many more have insecure housing. Most of our guests have some kind of MH issue. To see the impact that a meal or two, a coffee and a chat in a warm, clean, secure environment has even for a couple of hours is tremendous. What difference would it make if that enviroment was available constantly 

[chibam]

---

@Dimity wrote:

I also thought of @chibam .

---

Thanks, @Dimity 🙂

I can't say it often enough: Love, Job, Home. These were the things I needed to get out of therapy. Not pills or "talk therapy", which were obviously useless. I wasn't even asking anybody to pay for a house/apartment for me; I was perfectly happy to pay my own way. All I wanted was for them to tell me what the address was, and to double-check with the existing residants to make sure I'd be a welcome addition to the household!

I reckon that the government spent over 5 grand for 8 years of completely useless therapy for me, when I could've been sorted in just a couple months, at a fraction of that cost, if only the mental health system had been oriented towards fixing my actual problems, instead of just browbeating me into 'silently coping' with them.

[edited by moderator]

[Dimity]

Thanks for your replies @Till23 @chibam @Appleblossom @Shaz51 . The support button often doesn't work for me.

I'm glad you can see the difference your support makes to your guests @Till23 . With someone I know who feels very stigmatised the simple act of sharing means a great deal.

@chibam it's hard. For some people support and encouragement can help but others seem to need interventions. Self-efficacy varies and there are often barriers of different sorts to overcome.