More Australians than ever are living in cars, caravans, and tents in what one advocate calls a "truly national" housing crisis, that has seen rental vacancy rates fall to their lowest level ever in both regional and capital cities.
National Shelter chief executive Emma Greenhalgh said the unique feature of this current squeeze was that people who could no longer afford to rent in bigger cities were struggling to find places in the country.
Just 0.8 per cent of rental properties were available to lease nationally in January, according to Domain, well below a "healthy" rate of around 3 per cent.
"People are not able to even contemplate going somewhere where housing may be more available, or cheaper, which is traditionally regional areas, because it doesn't exist," Ms Greenhalgh said.
"It is truly a national crisis.
"There are families and individuals who we know are sleeping in tents and sleeping in cars."
Tens of thousands of Australians moved to the regions during the pandemic, while others moved out of share houses or their parent's homes, seeking more space to work from home.
This trend put pressure on the housing market, which was exacerbated by the reopening of the international border.
Rental prices are now 22 per cent higher than they were in 2020, according to the latest CoreLogic data, which shows the average weekly rent has now reached $555.
It has prompted a partnership between National Shelter, the Community Housing Industry Association and the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) to call for a $400 million Commonwealth funding boost over four years to address the fundamental problem of not enough housing.
Councils have already been testing possible solutions to the housing squeeze, auctioning off cheap blocks, offering rate relief and approving high-rise apartment buildings in bigger inland cities.
ALGA vice-president and Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett said his council set up a housing company, in conjunction with the gas industry, to build nearly 80 affordable units during the LNG boom.
But demand for housing was still outstripping supply, he said.
"People have caravans at the front and the back of their homes now to support friends and family who are unable to get, particularly, rentals," he said.
"That is very common. Certainly I've seen it around Queensland."
Mr Burnett said councils understood the needs of their communities and were well placed to facilitate the construction of the right mix of housing.
But the Grattan Institute's Brendan Coates said if councils wanted more houses built, they could do so tomorrow "by allowing more development applications to proceed".
"Councils decide planning applications and decide what gets built," he said.
Mr Coates said Australia could solve the housing crisis if state governments reformed their planning laws and local governments implemented them.
He pointed to Auckland, New Zealand, where rent is now cheaper because the city "upzoned" to encourage the construction of more apartments and townhouses.
"They did that in 2016," Mr Coates said.
"Rents in Auckland have fallen 2 per cent since 2016, after adjusting for inflation, whereas rents in New Zealand, more broadly, are up 10 per cent."
Federally, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to address the shortage through a national housing accord, which includes a $350 million grant for the construction of 10,000 affordable homes.
