Sun Dec 21, 1:11 AM ET

Sun Dec 21, 1:11 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – The Australian government has announced that it aims to halve homelessness and provide accommodation to all those sleeping rough by 2020.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who has made dealing with the country's homeless a priority since winning office a year ago, launched a 1.2 billion dollar (816 million US) plan to address the problem.

Some 800 million dollars would be spent on prevention programmes and 400 million dollars on providing more housing over the next four years.

"A country like this should not have this problem," Rudd said.

"It's time we had a decent solution to this problem that has been around for a long time."

Rudd said 105,000 Australians were homeless every night, with about 16,000 sleeping rough on the streets.

"As a nation we can do a lot better than that," Rudd said.

In a policy paper released Sunday, the government said it would build 3,000 homes for people who are homeless, or were at risk of homelessness.

It would also provide 50,000 affordable rental homes for low and moderate income earners.





Article: HERE