FREMANTLE-BASED Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says his party could end homelessness by 2020.

After spending a night on a chilly Canberra street during Vinnie’s CEO Sleep Out, he said the Greens—if given the opportunity—would provide emergency packages to build 7000 homes for people sleeping rough by the end of the decade.

“On any given night more than 105,000 Australians are homeless, including 18,000 children under the age of 12,” he says.

“Any Labor or Coalition politician doing the CEO Sleep Out needs to put their money where their sleeping bag is.

“There is no reason why any Australian should be denied the basic human right to shelter, but one in 200 of us are.”

The Greens spokesperson for housing says the Leave No-one Behind program would provide pre-fabricated two-bedroom homes for under $100,000 each.

“Modern pre-fabricated homes look like a conventional home and can be built to any design, making them suited to infill and regeneration developments—in other words, in areas with existing services,” he says. “Modular housing is far more affordable to run: its high level of insulation means the house uses just 10 per cent of the energy of a five-star home, so is much cheaper to heat in winter and cool in summer.”

He says the federal Labor government’s own plan to halve homelessness by 2020 has stalled.

“Tony Abbott refuses to even commit to the target,” he notes.

“Every winter homeless people in Australia die from exposure. We can’t let this go on.”

by BRENDAN FOSTER