Homes for the Homeless

As part of its electioneering, Labor has unveiled a $150 million promise to build up to 600 new houses and units across the country to provide better access to housing for homeless people.

Mr Rudd, speaking at a Mission Australia shelter in inner Sydney, said Labor's aim is to halve the number of homeless people turned away from shelters each year within five years and close the gap within a decade to ensure all homeless obtained shelter.

"This is all part of reaching out with a helping hand to Australians in need," he told reporters.

Mr Rudd said figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare indicated that in 2005-06 there were 3,383 requests for emergency accommodation that could not be met.

That was almost five per cent of the total number of requests for emergency accommodation, he said. At Mission Australia, where Mr Rudd talked to residents, more than half of all single adult women seeking accommodation are turned away.

"In a nation that has experienced 16 consecutive years of economic growth, this is simply not acceptable," stated Mr Rudd. Simon Turner