Posted: 2023-02-22 18:00:00

When Uncle Tony looks back at when he was homeless, he remembers the feeling of being judged.

"None of us like to be judged. Especially, none of us like to be judged harshly," the volunteer team leader at Sydney's Rough Edges Cafe tells ABC RN's Big Ideas.

Run by a not-for-profit organisation, the cafe helps to support those experiencing homelessness. Some of the volunteers have experienced it themselves.

Uncle Tony says when you're "going through an extremely hard time" being judged by someone who doesn't understand your story is "really offensive".

"And it hurts."

Experiencing homelessness is deeply stigmatising and can significantly impact mental and physical health.

Unfortunately homelessness is growing in Australia, with tens of thousands of people in this country without a home.

Homeless people in Martin Place Sydney
According to a UNSW report, over 91,000 Australians experienced homelessness last year.(Getty Images)

According to a UNSW report released in December 2022, the overall number of Australians relying on homelessness support services has increased by eight per cent to 91,300 people in the last four years.

This is likely to get worse, with a lack of accessible housing, inadequate funding for services and rising rents all raising the risk of more Australians becoming homeless.

One clear solution is to increase social housing across the country.

Government figures state roughly one in every three people considered "greatest needs households" waited at least a year for housing in the 2019 financial year.

In December, Julie Collins, the federal minister for housing, homelessness and small business, announced the government's plan to develop 30,000 social and affordable homes in the next five years.

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