La Trobe University’s Darran Stonehouse made the comment in the wake of the release of research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

This found that some states and territories have been “innovative” in delivering affordable housing despite the absence of a national housing supply strategy.

Client services manager at Albury’s yes unlimited Jon Park said the homelessness agency strongly agreed with the call for a national and comprehensive housing affordability strategy.

“From our perspective as a service it is people who are vulnerable or disadvantaged who are most affected by the lack of affordable housing, particularly as rents continue to increase and social welfare benefits remain the same,” he said.

“While there are isolated efforts to try and improve this, we need a really big picture approach to the issue which pulls together all levels of government and community.

“Access to affordable housing and the issue of homelessness are really complex-multifaceted issues and will only be truly solved with some big picture leadership and a long term, comprehensive strategy.”

Workers in the region’s homelessness sector have previously pointed to welcome funding from the Victorian government to address emergency housing shortfalls in the North East.

But they also expressed their frustration at an apparent unwillingness by the Commonwealth to instigate long-term policy change to properly address homelessness.

The Border, they said, had a significant hidden homelessness crisis flowing a growing lack of housing affordability, the spectre of mental illness and domestic violence. Almost 3000 people sought assistance from two of the major Border homelessness support agencies in one recent 12-month period.

Mr Stonehouse, who worked with the homeless in Albury and Wodonga for many years, said Australia was still operating “under a belief or a presumption” most would be able to meet their housing needs through the market.

“That’s either as owner-occupiers or as private renters. And that’s despite mounting evidence to suggest that is not the case,” he said.

“Government wants social housing to operate almost like the private market and to avoid some of the pitfalls that public housing offers them, without really establishing the framework for that.”

Mr Stonehouse said even adopting some of the successful programs under way in other states would be “helpful to those that it helps but it’s not really addressing the fundamental issues”.