SYDNEY —

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched plans late Sunday to halve homelessness in the country by 2020. The government will inject A$1.2 billion (U.S.$820 million) over four years to provide new support services for homeless people and build social housing to both prevent homelessness and break the cycle.
   
Rudd outlined plans to build up to 2,700 new public and community houses for people at risk of homelessness. There are currently some 105,000 homeless Australians, with an estimated 16,000 people living on the street. Many homeless people find temporary accommodation with family and friends, or spend the night at dormitories or in refuge housing. Rudd said this was a ‘‘once in a generation opportunity’’ to address the issue of homelessness, adding that a country such as Australia should not have this ‘‘large’’ and ‘‘longstanding’’ problem.

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5 Comments

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  flugelschmidt at 11:32 AM JST - 22nd December

  Rudd would have to be the most incompetent leader since Chifley. The guy doesn't SLEEP for fruit's sake. Building houses won't help, Kev, you have to build a society that is even 1 degree above freezing point. Good luck with that.

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  KumaNiku at 01:20 PM JST - 22nd December

  Rudd would have to be the most incompetent leader since Chifley. The guy doesn't SLEEP for fruit's sake. Building houses won't help, Kev, you have to build a society that is even 1 degree above freezing point. Good luck with that.

  What has being hard working have to do with incompetent? Ben Chifley was very competent I think, just hamstung by a radical faction of the party and arch conservative forces. To me this rings more of Hawke's 'no child shall live in poverty by the year 2000' speech - well meaning but how do you do it?

  I agree that building houses is not the cure all for the issue of homelessness, but building a warm and understanding society - how does anyone do that? It's hard to reverse or temper 11 years of tabloid selfishness in less than half of one term in office. Either way, it is an admirable goal and at this stage, Kevin 07 deserves the benefit of the doubt.

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  Weasel at 02:08 PM JST - 22nd December

  Sounds like another export nation solution.

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  toskin at 02:35 PM JST - 22nd December

  The statement does sound similar to Hawke's 'no child shall live in poverty...' speech. Perhaps Rudd's plan to help/hide the homeless will help us forget the policies he hasn't been able to deliver on.

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  ca1ic0cat at 05:54 AM JST - 23rd December

  Public housing has been tried and it's always been a freaking disaster. There are some who need public housing and can make good use of it. But, short of economic collapse (coming soon to a company near you?) the people who are homeless usually have personal problems that mean they can't keep house let alone afford one.

  They did used to have housing for a lot of these folks. It was called asylums and detox centers.

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