Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

A key part of addressing mental ill health is addressing the social determinants of mental ill health. That starts with addressing the issue of housing and taking a housing-first approach to addressing mental ill health. Insecure housing and homelessness have an incredibly negative impact on people's mental health and wellbeing. It is basically impossible to access services and get long-term treatment if you are homeless or in insecure housing. Suitable housing that is secure, affordable, of reasonable quality and of enduring tenure is a particularly important factor in preventing mental ill health and a first step to promoting the long-term recovery of people experiencing mental illness.

Sixteen per cent of people with mental ill health live in unsuitable accommodation, meaning they are homeless, live in overcrowded accommodation or housing of substandard quality or are at risk of eviction. The Productivity Commission's report on mental health found:

One quarter of all people admitted to acute mental health services are homeless prior to admission and most are discharged back into homelessness … Not only is an individual's recovery challenged by unstable accommodation, but follow-up care after discharge is more difficult (which, in turn, can lead to a cycling of people back through hospital EDs).

To address this vicious cycle, the Productivity Commission recommended the following:

As a priority reform, each Government should commit to, monitor and report on, a nationally consistent policy of not discharging people with mental illness from hospitals, correctional facilities and institutional care into a situation of homelessness.

But that means we actually need a supply of affordable housing for people to go into. In my home state of WA, like in the rest of Australia, we have a housing crisis. The rental vacancy rate is at one per cent, which is a 40-year low. In Perth, we have a median rent of 460 bucks a week. How is that affordable? That is not even close to being affordable for anybody who is trying to survive on, for example, income support payments of $44 a day or on a low income. It is very clear that we need to address this housing crisis for everybody in Australia, particularly those who are excluded from the housing market. If this country says it's going to address mental ill health, a key part of that is addressing the housing affordability crisis and making sure nobody with poor mental health has to be homeless and live on the streets. This is a travesty in a country as wealthy as Australia. (Time expired)