Australia spends billions of dollars more on tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined, according to research by the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss). “More people are struggling to afford the private rental market, pushing them into homelessness and on to growing social housing waitlists,” she said. Fewer than 2% of homes being built now are for social housing, down from 15% in the 1970s, and 22% in the 1950s. As a result, housing stress has also become more entrenched among Australians on low incomes. “People have just gotten used to it, they’ve gotten used to existing in this constant state of rental stress,” she said.