AN estimated 400 households in the Swan Hill region were experiencing housing stress, according to a landmark report released this week by the Community Housing Industry Association.

Housing stress is defined as living in overcrowded homes, spending more than 30 per cent of income on rent, or being homeless.

Based on data from the 2021 census, the report estimates 45 per cent of low income households in the Swan Hill local government area don’t have access to social or affordable housing. That equates to 4.4 per cent of all households.

READ: Homeless, with no hope

The situation is even worse in several adjacent LGAs.

The level of unmet need in Murray River is estimated at 200 households (4.7 per cent), 1600 in Mildura (7.3 per cent), and 100 in Balranald (8.1 per cent).

The Association’s chief executive officer Wendy Hayhurst said the regional snapshots released this week showed homelessness in regional areas was generally lower than inner city areas.

The highest levels of homelessness were in remote regions with a higher proportion of Aboriginal residents, such as the Northern Territory and the South Australian outback.

But Ms Hayhurst acknowledged shortcomings from relying on the census and warned housing stress and homelessness in the Swan Hill region was likely higher than indicated by the data, which was collected on August 10, 2021.

At the time, Victoria was still in the grip of COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions.

“The accuracy of numbers can be affected when significant groups don’t participate in the census,” she said.

“This includes Aboriginal people who often avoid recording themselves on census and seasonal workers from some cultural groups ... there would have been fewer farm workers in the area, and a lot of homeless households can’t be found.”

The regional snapshots in the report provide more detail than the national data released last November.

They highlighted much higher proportions of unmet need for one person households in smaller towns such as Balranald, Deniliquin and Hay, where they accounted for 49 per cent of those experiencing housing stress – the highest in NSW.

In the Balranald LGA, an estimated 30 per cent of people experiencing housing stress were homeless.

Ms Hayhurst said this reflected a shortage of units or flats suitable for older people.

“There isn’t much smaller accommodation, and people are living in houses that are too big for them,” she said. “Older people in rental stress in regional areas is a big problem.”

Overall, Ms Hayhurst said the data highlighted what happened when governments did not plan for population growth or include provisions for subsidised or social housing.

“There are currently 640,000 Australian households whose housing needs are not being met, and this figure is projected to increase to 940,000 by 2041,” she said.

According to the census there were about 440 households in Swan Hill, 70 in Murray River and 50 in Balranald living in either public housing or dwellings managed by community organisations.

This article first appeared in The Guardian