- Nope, I'm not copping it -

This is what I found in under 2 mins when I specifically looked for house rentals in Victoria under $150 per week.

1 Bedroom unit $130 per week
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-newborough-427040866

Modern 1 Bedroom unit $140 per week
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-swan+hill-409877747

1 Bedroom house $145 per week
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-horsham-427130754

Newstart Allowance Rate: Single, no children $555.70 per fortnight
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/newstart-allowance/how-much-you-can-get

* Take note this is the rate for unemployed, not pensioners or disabled who may have higher needs and thus a higher rate

Rent Assistance Rate: Single, no children $137.20 per fortnight
http://www.dss.gov.au/housing-support/programmes-services/commonwealth-rent-assistance

Is anyone here prepared to look at this seriously and stop lying?

Full Rate Newstart Allowance + Rent Assistance = $692.90

Say you choose the Modern 1 bedroom unit in Swan Hill
Let's have another look at it.
http://www.google.com/maps/@-35.3440408,143.5488185,3a,75y,347.4h,81.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUv9KJkEeYNzeh9VZJ1talg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sure, it ain't no palace and it could use a few trees, but what do you want for $140 week?

If you're not sold on it check out the 3 pics from inside again:
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-swan+hill-409877747

$692.90 - $280.00 = $412.90

That's $206.45 per week LEFT OVER to pay for food and electricity.
these expenses aren't cheap, but they're not that expensive.

$120 fortnight for food and electricity costs.

maybe you have a car or medical script costs:
$80 fortnight for fuel, rego and medical script costs.

Sure, there's nothing left over if you're unemployed living by yourself, but should there be?

- But don't bloody tell me that anyone in this country need be homeless -

Here's an ugly hometruth.

The poor choose to be poor.

How? BY DEFAULT

The poor chose to be poor by default;
- By not choosing things that would've otherwise lead to them not being poor. -

What's that saying:
Prior Planning Prevents Pisspoor Performance

It's a capitalist country and they made their choices.
Why is it anyone else's fault if they never learned to save;
Or lived week to week and never had any consideration for the future?

- No-one else's fault but theirs -

AC,

There's a peculiar belief that the poor are in
poverty because they're lazy, idle, and prefer
to live on handouts. This view is fervently
held by many people who don't know any poor
people, have never tried to raise a family on
welfare payments, and haven't the vaguest idea
what poverty is really like.

Opinion polls repeatedly show large sections of the
population favouring cuts to welfare spending, or
favouring plans to "make welfare recipients go to
work."

These attitudes bear little relationship to reality.
A large percentage welfare recipients are children,
aged people, or disabled, most of the rest are
mothers with youn children, and a smaller percentage
are able-bodied men, most of them unskilled workers
in areas of high unemployment. Also there's the myth
that welfare is a terrible burden on the taxpayer.
It's actually a very small percentage of the federal
budget.

Why do these curious myths about the poor persist?

Some people believe that that everyone has the same
chance to get ahead. The poor therefore are supposed to
need incentives to work, instead of help at the expense
of the taxpayer.

There are few complaints however, about how the
government pays out far more in "handouts" to the
non-poor. In the form of tax deductions, and grants,
subsidies, federally subsidised loans, and benefits
in one form or another.

I don’t understand why so many people in this country don’t seem to have families. There is no way any of my children or grandchildren would be allowed to be homeless. Or any of the huge extended family for that matter. There is always room for a mattress on a floor or a spare couch somewhere in the family.
And why do people also assume that a home means somewhere you live alone? What is wrong with sharing?
Unemployed people can pool money for rent. Young people can try rent a room somewhere. Perhaps those lonely old people who are apparently struggling on the pension could rent out a room or two. Make some money and get some company at the same time.
People need to look at more options.

At a glance I'd say that many homeless are not really, they, for reasons of aversion to a little discipline & responsibility, choose to leave family. The most common excuse is abuse.
Whilst I can't think of too many situations being worse than homeless, many homeless need to look at themselves with a little self-scrutiny. Drugs coupled with indiscipline would probably rank highest.
I also believe Govt & bureaucrats such as those in Centrelink have a lot to answer for. Their policies undoubtedly count for much social misery.

All these statements about poverty (because that's what homeless represents!) and I haven't seen any of you make reference to class and social inequality. Or are you all dyed-in-the-wool LNP disciples who believe John Howard when he said 'There is no class in Australia.'? Now there's a real dummy if there ever was one!

Arguing that a people choose to be poor makes as much sense as arguing that people in Mesoamerica chose to be human sacrifices to an Aztec sun god. It's easy to pick the ones on OLO who have done humanities degrees from the great majority of you who haven't.