Hundreds of Ballarat residents continue to be impacted by a lack of housing availability.
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Uniting Ballarat is aware of 75 people sleeping rough in Ballarat and surrounding areas.
"There is just not enough appropriate housing going around," Uniting Ballarat homelessness senior manager Adam Liversage said.
According to statistics from SQM research, rent within the Ballarat postcode is about $419 a week on average.
This is the highest number over the last 12 years.
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At the same time only about 0.9 per cent of houses are vacant.
These numbers mixed with a growing population and the rise of cost of living and interest rates means more people are needing to reach out to services like Uniting and Anglicare.
"We need more public, social and community housing," Mr Liversage said.
He said programs like the state government's 'big housing build' is going to make "some small inroads" to fixing the housing crisis.
"Effectively it is not going to solve homelessness - there will still be a lot of people experiencing homelessness," Mr Liversage said.
Uniting's Entry Point Team works with people needing housing support; the staff determine appropriate crisis responses and referrals.
Currently there are 178 households on the over 25-years-old priority list and 57 households on the youth or under 25 priority list.
So far in 2022, 571 consumers have been turned away at Uniting's reception. This is expected to increase.
It is Homelessness Week and community development manager at Anglicare Victoria in Ballarat, Kim Boyd, said it was important to keep supporting people who were unable to secure permanent housing.
"It is easy to be comfortable in our own space without thinking of others, particularly at the moment, because there is just a general lack of housing," Ms Boyd said.
"If that does not change, we are actually going to see things become worse, not better." Ms Boyd said it is important that these discussions keep happening well beyond this week of awareness.
"Especially with interest rates rising and food and petrol prices, it will create circumstances that people may not be able to manage anymore, when they were managing quite well previously," Ms Boyd said.
"It is easy to be comfortable in our own space without thinking of others, particularly at the moment, because there is just a general lack of housing," Ms Boyd said.
"If that does not change, we are actually going to see things become worse, not better." Ms Boyd said it was important that these discussions kept happening well beyond this week of awareness.
"Especially with interest rates rising and food and petrol prices, it will create circumstances that people may not be able to manage anymore, when they were managing quite well previously," Ms Boyd said.
As part of Homelessness Week, Uniting has put together an art exhibition to share the stories of people who have experienced homelessness. The exhibition will run this week from 10am to 4pm at the Trades Hall. At 2pm on Friday, Uniting will host a take action event at Trades Hall.
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