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Written by Nabil Feki, Lauren Dymke and Sam Narayanan
Blessing Bags welcomes the Commission’s invitation to contribute a submission. Blessing Bags is a small not-for profit based in Melbourne, Australia. We support people experiencing homelessness and housing instability by providing parcels of essential items and hygiene products to our partner organisations. Our partners include SHARPS Frankston, Biala peninsula, we are mobilise, The Orange Door. We also extend our support to various hospital outreaches, neighbourhood houses, and community crisis centres.
Increases in housing affordability have had a marked impact on our work. Our organisation has seen a concerning increase in the need for our service, specifically, from children and adolescents. Kindergartens and schools are asking us if we are able to provide more hygiene packs. In 2023, 30% of our hygiene packs we made went to this cohort. We are hearing reports from teachers that their students are accessing showers at school, as they are not able to do so in their homes- a stark example of how this housing crisis is impacting low and middle income families. Single parents and households in low socioeconomic areas are being hit hardest by increased rents, which in turn has affected households’ ability to spend money on other living costs, such as food, clothing, utilities, and preventative healthcare (AIHW, 2022).
Read our full submission below
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